India are still a strong side: Mahmudullah

Bangladesh's captain, Mahmudullah, urged his team-mates to focus on their strengths and not think too much about whether this was a second-string Indian team they were playing against in the Nidahas Trophy.  

After Bangladesh's training session at the R Premadasa Stadium - something they made the most of, having previously practiced at the P Saravanamuttu Stadium, as India were playing Sri Lanka at the tournament venue - Mahmudullah exuded a quiet confidence.

"I prefer being optimistic every game. India is still a strong side, even though some of their experienced players aren't around on this tour. Their current squad has a lot of players who have the experience of playing in the IPL," said Mahmudullah. "If we can play good cricket, we will do well. There's no point thinking about the external factors, we are focused about our own game."

The number of times India play Sri Lanka is often joked about, but if there is real familiarity at the moment it is between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Through January and February, Sri Lanka played a one-day international tri-series (also featuring Zimbabwe), two Tests and two Twenty20 internationals in Bangladesh. The visiting team tasted success across formats.

"Of course, one has to plan keeping the opponents in mind. We have played against Sri Lanka recently, so we know what challenges to expect from them. Same goes for them, they would know that too," said Mahmudullah. "We can't step onto the field even with an iota of doubt, that won't help in this format, or any format. Especially, when the team is not going through a good spell, such doubts creep in but I have urged my teammates to keep those doubts away and step out.

Returning to the match at hand, Mahmudullah did not want to dwell too much on India's obvious strengths. "I am not looking at that particular side, what I am looking at is playing some good, hard cricket. I am telling my boys to stick to our process, our strengths, knowing our strengths and weaknesses would be better for ourselves rather than thinking of others' stuff," he said. "India is still a very good side, we do have that respect. What we can do is play some good cricket on that particular day, if we can do so, execute our skills, hopefully we can do something good."