The hopes of making it to the semi-finals might have gone, but Bangladesh will try to gain something from their dead rubber encounter against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium today.
Both teams have already been eliminated from the tournament after losing their first two matches. The match is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm Bangladesh Standard time and T Sports, Nagorik TV, and Toffee will telecast it live.
After losing to India, Bangladesh lost their second match against New Zealand as they lost their way in the middle-over batting. The batters failed to turn up in the do-or-die match, and eventually Bangladesh were crushed out.
But senior assistant coach Mohammad Salahuddin still believes that they have so much to gain from this match.
鈥業f you see the future of the tournament, there鈥檚 nothing to get,鈥� Salahuddin told the reporters before the match on Wednesday.
鈥楤ut we鈥檝e come to play, and this will be our last match. If we get a good result, then that will be good for the boys. It will be better if we don鈥檛 make the same mistakes we did in the first two matches.
鈥榃hen you will get the confidence or when life will be turned, no one can tell,鈥� added the senior coach.
鈥業 think every match is important for every player. Maybe if someone plays well here, it will direct him towards something in the future. It might be a turning point for our cricket also.鈥�
鈥業f you say that the boys don鈥檛 have the wish to do big things, it鈥檚 wrong. But it should be within the system. I鈥檝e worked with the boys for two series. I鈥檝e seen positives and changes in their mentality. They鈥檙e now thinking about collective efforts. If they can play as a team, it鈥檒l boost their confidence,鈥� Salahuddin continued.
Salahuddin, though, admitted that his boys failed to perform according to their potential.
He also lamented the lack of preparation leading into the tournament as Bangladesh players have come straight from the BPL.
鈥業鈥檓 hopeful that we can get a solution,鈥� said Salahuddin. 鈥榊ou see, the other teams have come with preparation. But we couldn鈥檛 do that. So the management and board also should think about the strategies and how they can plan in the future.鈥�
Pakistan, on the other hand, are on a similar track as they are facing the criticism of playing an old-fashioned brand of cricket.
However, their head coach, Aaqib Javed, feels that the players will play for their pride.
鈥楾his is the Champions Trophy, where the eight best teams are playing, so after two defeats we have to start from zero,鈥� said Aaqib. 鈥楨very game is played for pride, so we want to leave a mark on Thursday.鈥�
Both teams will look up into their batting so that they can get a positive result. Both teams are yet to reach the 300-run mark in the tournament, whereas even 351 runs were chased down.
But whatever the teams aim for, the weather might still have one thing to say or two.
The previous match scheduled at this venue on Tuesday between South Africa and Australia of Group B was washed out without any ball being bowled due to persistent rain.
The forecast for today wasn鈥檛 clear either. If the match cannot take place, then Bangladesh will finish in third, ahead of Pakistan, by virtue of a better net run rate.
