Bangladesh spearhead Taskin Ahmed yesterday said that “there’s nothing much for bowlers” at the Cricket World Cup as runs flow in India’s batting paradise.
The 28-year-old Taskin is to return to the Bangladesh side for today’s clash with the Netherlands after being rested to nurse a shoulder niggle.
Bangladesh and the Netherlands have just one win each against four losses, and another defeat at Eden Gardens would almost certainly signal the end of their slim semi-final hopes.
Photo: AFP
“There’s nothing much for the bowlers,” said Taskin, who has taken only two wickets in three matches at a cost of 126 runs. “It’s kind of batting friendly, all the grounds.”
However, “also there are some challenges and it’s not all about speed,” he said. “Like we have seen there are express fast bowlers in the world, they’re also struggling, leaking runs. You need some variation skills and a game awareness. You need a lot of skills to do well on this kind of surface.”
Bangladesh are eighth in the 10-team World Cup table, while the Netherlands are at the bottom. Both have just two points.
However, 28-year-old Taskin believes his team can still make it to the last four.
“It’s not finished yet, we still have four more games to go,” he said.
After the Netherlands, Bangladesh face Pakistan in Kolkata, Sri Lanka in New Delhi and Australia in Pune.
“If we can win those four, anything can happen because there are some run-rate issues,” Taskin said.
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