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Tigers Leave for Europe Today

'Some spots still open'

Sports Reporter
The Tigers leave for their Europe tour today. It has somehow emerged as a challenging tour for the Bangladesh team, as it will not be an easy task for them to beat Ireland. So, Mushfiqur Rahim's men will have to make sure that their team spirit will not be dented in this challenging tour ahead of their ICC World Twenty20 mission in Sri Lanka in September this year.
And everybody will be looking forward to seeing how the team is shaping up, especially in the newest format of the game under the guidance of Richard Pybus. The Englishman had his first assignment with the Tigers in Zimbabwe where his charges won one match each against the hosts and South Africa.
Without any doubt there is no alternative other than winning the matches against Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands but while Pybus was speaking in an official press conference along with his captain Mushfiqur yesterday at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, the new Bangladesh coach said that "The goal is every time we play we play with the focus for excellence. We need to make sure that we control our game plan in terms of what we wanted to do."
Pybus was also not ready to make any prediction about the coming series and rated Ireland quite highly.
"I am not in a habit of pulling out a crystal ball and making predictions on series. We will have complete respect
Bangladesh cricket coach Richard Pybus addresses the media yesterday on the eve of the Tigers' tour of Europe. They leave here this morning for Belfast. photo: star
for the Irish. They are now big boys. They are very dangerous and the side is made predominantly from county players in England so they are professionals as they have earned the right to
play county cricket,” he opined.
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim once again said that this tour is an opportunity for them to enter into theT20 ranking and as well prove some points in the away tour and coach Pybus also emphasised on the need for playing more T20 games to get accustomed with the format.
"To learn a format you have to play a lot. We need to play as much T20s as possible and then the guys need to decide their spots. And then they will learn to play in combinations and play according to the right game plan in different environments. We need to play a good amount ofT-20 games to be a topT20 team in the world,” suggested the Bangladesh head coach, who also talked about the bright sights of his team performance during the Zimbabwe trip.
It is said that Bangladesh is yet to learn the craft of the new version of the game and are still looking for a right combination and Pybus also hinted that there are some spots which are still open.
"There was some good stuff that came out of Zimbabwe. But there are spots which are still open. If I can cut it today I really enjoyed today. I want as much competition for the spots in the senior side as possible. That's what is going to make the team stronger in the future as three or four guys will fight for the same spot. All of these preparations
Some spots
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will build towards the World Cup T-20. I think a lot of spots got settled in Zimbabwe and there are a couple for which there is still competition,” he said.
Like Mushfiqur, the Bangladesh coach was also excited about the fact that the world’s number one allrounder Shakib Al Hasan is back to the squad for the trip but he once again made it clear that the team comes first to him.
“It's always great to have some of your key players come back into the side. I think it was also very important for him (Shakib) to have a rest. He played cricket for the better part of last 10 to 11 months with I PL and county cricket, I think he came back and is now looking forward to playing with the boys. For me it's about the team. I am glad about him coming back and I am looking forward to Tamim coming back. But it's about the team focus and getting it right there,” said Pybus.
And one thing that satisfied the new Bangladesh coach is most the performance of Mohammad Ashraful, the enigma of Bangladesh cricket, in Zimbabwe.
“I'm pretty satisfied but a lot is still to come from him (Ashraful). He combined well with Tamim. And as far as Mohammad Ashraful is concerned he started off well in Zimbabwe,” an apparently happv Bangladesh coach said.