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Tigers’ date with destiny

Bangladesh's crunch match against Lanka today

Mohammad Isam
The Tigers have plenty of motivating factors today in their bid to upstage Sri Lanka for a place in the Asia Cup final against Pakistan onThursday.
The Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium will be the scene of history since this tournament has never been one for the underdogs. Bangladesh have been traditionally confined to the bottom of the points table since they began participating in 1988 with their only two wins coming against United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong. But their win against India last Friday has completely turned the regional competition on its head.
The Tigers haven’t reached so far in a tournament since making the tri-nation final in early 2009 (which involved Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe), but apart from making history, it will be an opportunity to beat the Lankans for the third time in GDIs. For captain Mushflqur Rahim too, there is the lure of climbing above previous skippers Mohammad Ashraful and
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza in terms of wins against the big eight Test nations (apart fromZimbabwe).
But what was perceptible yesterday in Mirpur was a sense of calmness though the only thing in everyone's mind was the distant dream of March 22. Mashrafe was sent by the team management to appease the media of the team's way of thinking, harping on the fact that they are not feeling any pressure.
"It doesn't look as if our cricketers are under pressure. Nobody is thinking in that vein. The opportunity is there for us, if we can take it, well and good,” he said during the pre-game press conference.
"Before the tournament began I said that we are not here to play the finals, just play good cricket. We have arrived at this situation after beating India. We will play like we had planned ahead of the tournament, that'll take us ahead," he added.
But the fact that the Tigers are "in it to win it" (as the sporting lexicon goes) was not lost to the Narail Express. "This is a must-win game for us so we are taking it as a positive sign. Our confidence is high after the win against India. So we hope to do well against Sri
Lanka, "he said.
The last time the Tigers beat Sri Lanka was incidentally in a similar situation during the tri-series three years ago. At that time, the win in the shortened game gave them a place in the final. But Mashrafe didn't want to make it into history repeating itself, rather focusing on the present.
"I don't believe in such calculations. If I had played well against Sri Lanka yesterday, it doesn't matter. I have to do well tomorrow. What happened in the past won't help us now but we'll have a chance if we play like we did against India and Pakistan," said the paceman.
He was also quick to dismiss any suggestions that today's opponents are a weak line-up even though they have lost both games.
"It may seem so because they lost to India and Pakistan but ahead of the tournament, they were one of the favorites. Nobody is weak for us so we have to play better than our best cricket to win the game.
"I also think everyone of their players is a threat because they have the ability to do something brilliant. We will focus on all of them, ” he said.