Asia Cup: Mehidy Hasan responds to Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka's 'Bangladesh an easier opponent' comment
India Today
Asia Cup 2022: Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanka had said Bangladesh are an easier opposition to face than Afghanistan after they were hammered by 8 wickets in the tournament opener by Mohammad Nabi's men.
Bangladesh all-rounder Mehidy Hasan played down Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka's take on Afghanistan being a more difficult opposition than the Tigers, saying the former finalists will look to respond to the statement on the field. Bangladesh open their campaign against Afghanistan on Tuesday, August 30 in Group B before they take on Sri Lanka in their final league-stage match.
Notably, Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka's comments about the Bangladesh team came after they were handed an 8-wicket hammering by Afghanistan in the Asia Cup 2022 opener on Saturday. Shanaka's comments have been labeled as mind games as the islanders look to put behind the defeat and progress to the Super Four stage.
Afghanistan rattled Sri Lanka in the opener, bowling Shanka's men out for 105 as left-arm paer Fazalhaq Farroqi jolted them, picking up 3 wickets. Naveen-ul-Haq picked up a wicket and the spin trio of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan gave away just 50 runs in 12 overs, picking up 4 wickets between them.
"Afghanistan has a world-class bowling attack. We know Fizz (Mustafizur Rahman) is a good bowler. Shakib is a world-class bowler. But apart from them, there is no world-class bowler in the side. So if we compare with Afghanistan, Bangladesh is an easier opponent," Shanaka had said after Sri Lanka's loss to Afghanistan.
Responding to Shanaka's comments, Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedy Hasan said his team would like to respond to Shanaka's claim on the field.
"I don't want to make a comment that this team is good and this team is bad. I think good and bad are proved in the field. A good team can lose if they play badly on that specific day and similarly a bad team can win if they play a good game of cricket.
''We will meet in the field and at that end of the day the good team will win the match and what I feel is that we have to prove it in the field because if we play well certainly everyone will know who is a good team and who is a bad team so instead of predicting before I think it is important to play well on the field,'' said Hasan.
