Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha said on Friday that a semifinal berth in the 2023 ODI World Cup was a “realistic” goal for his side.
Hathurusingha was earlier criticised by former captain Tamim Iqbal for a lack of ambition when he said in a recent interview that those who talked about Bangladesh winning the World Cup should “wake up”.
“We all want to win the World Cup, but realistically, if we win four to five games, we give ourselves a chance to get into the semifinals — that’s our first aim,” Hathurusingha said, ahead of his team’s opener against Afghanistan.
Bangladesh is yet to reach the last four in its six World Cup appearances.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi feels that the IPL experience of some of his players and the fact that Afghanistan had its home base in India for a while will hold the team in good stead. “Some of our players play a lot in the IPL. We have also played in these conditions because India was also our home base. So, we will take that advantage with us throughout the tournament.
“As a leader, I feel very confident about our team’s performance in this tournament. We have improved significantly since our last competitions, and I believe that we are now better than ever. We are determined to achieve positive results and make history for our nation.
“I am confident that our mindset is now different from the past. We will play positive cricket and not worry about what happened before.”
