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Tigers cautiously optimistic

Biwajit Roy
Bl * With recent marker suggesting V Bangladesh as a better team than Zimbabwe, anything oilier than a yl win would be a disaster for the Tigers in the tri-nation opening ' " match at the Sher-e-Bangla
Natnal Stadium in Mirpur today.
hhammad AshrafuTs men will definitely try tmake sure of their place in the final of the tourament, also involving Sri Lanka, by win-ningie match.
Shilarly, they will also look to continue theinecent successes against the bottom-rankd side.
Th Tigers have established a gulf of differ-enceigainst the sides below them (associates incliied) but both Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddcns and captain Mohammad Ashraful were Guarded ahead of the match which gives them the opportunity to enjoy the 'winning
taste'again.
"I am confident like I was against Ireland. 1 am confident that we are a better team than they are. But the players have to deliver on the day. Given our ranking, given the opposition in one-day cricket at the moment, given that we are improving as a team I am pretty confident. Still we have to play very good cricket to win the game," said Siddons, under whom his side has also won against New Zealand at home.
"I think Zimbabwe is a good team as these players has been playing together for the last four years. But we have a balanced one-da\ team and what we believe is that we have the ability to beat any team if we can give our him dred percent in all three departments," said a confident Ashraful.
"Our main target is to play good cricket on a match by match basis to reach the final of the tournament," he added.
Bangladesh will definitely miss the services of Abdur Razzak, who was banned for his illegal action, as the left-arm spinner was an integral part of the one-day tearri with his 10-over spell always vital for his side.
"Definitely we will miss him because three left-arm spinners (Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak and Shakib Al Hasan) has played a vital role in our recent success in the one-day games.
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But we have now Nayeem Islam who showed his potential and I hope that it will not be a big problem," hoped the Bangladesh skipper.
In the just concluded Test series against Sri Lanka, the consistent failure of the top order batsmen and poor fielding was the real concern for the Bangladesh team and they have to overcome these problems if they want to show their mettle in the limited-over competition.
"It just putting more experienced players at the top. I am pretty confident that they will do the job. The Test team is a lot of different, a lot of new faces. They haven't played a lot of matches. 1 am confident our top four will do a lot better than we do in Test cricket," said Siddons expressing his optimism over his brittle top order batting.
"There is a concentration problem in Test cricket. Our guys don't do that well. We need to get better. In one-day cricket they should be switched on. It's only 50 overs."
Both coach and captain said that they have to ensure their best performance in all three departments to win the match no matter who are the opponents.
"We need to bat well, bowl well and field well to win the match no matter who is the opponent, “ Ashraful said.
TEAMS
BANGLADESH (from): Tamim Iqbal, Zunaed Siddiqui, Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Rokibul Hassan. Shakib Al Hasan, Mehrab Hossain, Nayeem Islam, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mahbubul Alam, Nazmul Hossain, Rubel Hossain and Enamul Haque. ZIMBABWE (from): Prosper Utseya (captain). Elton Chigumbura, Graeme Cremer, Keith Dabengwa, Hamilton Masakadza, Stuart Matsikenyeri. Christopher Mpofu, Tawanda Mupariwa, Forster Mutizwa, Raymond Price, Edward Rainsford, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu (wicketkeeper). Malcolm Waller and Sean Williams.