– Bangladesh cricket team will depart Dhaka in the early hours of Friday for the upcoming Champions Trophy with the belief of winning the 8-nation tournament
Sports Desk: Bangladesh cricket team will depart Dhaka in the early hours of Friday for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025 with the belief of winning the eight-nation tournament.
Speaking to the media in the pre-tournament press conference at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium Wednesday, Bangladesh captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto said all the participating teams in the tournament have the ability to win it.
“We [Bangladesh team] are going with the target to finish as champions. I think all the eight teams here deserve to be champions. These eight are quality teams. I have a belief that our team has the capability [of winning the tournament],” said the left-handed batter.
Bangladesh are in Group A of the Champions Trophy and will start their campaign against India in Dubai on February 20.
The Tigers will then travel to Rawalpindi, Pakistan to take on New Zealand on February 24 and then the hosts on February 27 at the same venue.
In terms of preparation for the ICC flagship event, Shanto differed in opinion with the team’s head coach Phil Simmons.
Former West Indies cricketer Simmons had said the team lack in preparation for the 50-over tournament, given that the players only recently completed their campaigns in the shortest format, the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20.
Bangladesh team will leave the country following a five—day long camp in Mirpur and will get another five training sessions when in Dubai before they play their first game against India.
“Yes, there are differences [in ODI and T20] but I think the way our batters played in the tournament, they had a good preparation, considering that the wickets in this BPL were good, and the conditions we will be playing, we expect even better wickets there,” Shanto explained.
“The batsmen had a good preparation I believe and the bowlers also bowled well [in BPL]. We still have six to seven days and hopefully we will be more organized by then,” the 26-year old concluded.
