SA vs BAN: Taskin Ahmed Is One Of The Leaders; He’s Leading By Example – Bangladesh Captain Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh National Cricket Team captain Shakib Al Hasan has praised the 27-year-old pacer, Taskin Ahmed, for performing “tremendously well” consistently for the side and labelled him as “one of the leaders” in the team after the exit of the 39-year-old Mashrafe Mortaza.

In the match between Bangladesh and Netherlands at the Bellerive Oval, Hobart on October 24, Taskin Ahmed played a pivotal role in Bangladesh’s narrow 9-run victory. He ended his spell with the figures of 4-0-25-4 to restrict the Netherlands to 135. Also, he won the Player of the Match award for his sensational bowling performance.

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In their second Super 12 stage game, Bangladesh are set to lock horns with Temba Bavuma-led South Africa on Thursday, October 27, at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

At the pre-match press conference, Bangladesh National Cricket Team skipper Shakib Al Hasan showered praise on his pacers.

“He’s one of the leaders now after Mashrafe’s exit. He has done tremendously well the last two, three years for Bangladesh. He’s leading by example. We’ve got a very good fast bowling group in all three formats, and they are doing really well.”

“Can’t be more proud of the way they’ve improved themselves and come this far, and as a result it’s been showing now. I hope they continue this format through this World Cup, and I’m sure we’ll have a very good World Cup,” said Shakib in the pre-match press conference.

We don’t want to be predictable – Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh captain Shakib was asked how they would be selecting their playing XI for the game against the Proteas at the Sydney Cricket Ground. He responded:

“We don’t want to be predictable. We’ll look at the opposition. We’ll look at the conditions. That’s how we have been preparing ourselves for this World Cup, because every ground is different.”

“The dimensions are different. The wind factor is different. The weather is different. We’ll obviously plan accordingly. Might not go in our way, but that’s how open we are.”

Bangladesh openers Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar had a 43-run partnership in 31 balls in the match against the Netherlands. While talking about the openers, Shakib Al Hasan said that they were “quite positive” in their Super 12 stage opener. He elaborated:

“The opening stand will give us confidence. Both openers were quite positive (against the Netherlands), which was more important than the runs they scored. We should play with more freedom now.

“We have played against the South African pacers recently. We know what they can do, and we have been successful in ODIs. I think we can counter their plans and have the upper hand.”

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