CHATTOGRAM, 4 Jul: Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal wants to assess his fitness by playing the opening game of the three-match one-day international series against Afghanistan.
\nTamim was ruled out of the one-off test against Afghanistan last month, which Bangladesh won a record 546-run margin, due to a lower back issue.
\nThe injury resurfaced during a practice session but he has decided to lead the side in Wednesday\u2019s first match to determine its extent.
\n\u201cI am in a better state and better frame of mind than before but I won\u2019t say I am at hundred percent,\u201d Tamim said. \u201cAfter the game, I will be able to assess my situation.
\n\u201cUntil now the decision is that I am playing tomorrow\u2019s game. I need to see how much I am able to cope and how much I can\u2019t. I won\u2019t do something for which the team suffers. I always believe team comes before any individual.\u201d
\nEvery series is crucial as Bangladesh prepares for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup. It will also play the Asia Cup and a three-match ODI series at home before the World Cup starts in October.
\n\u201cDuring the game if I feel that I am not ready and it can be too risky then I, along with the medical department, will take a decision,\u201d Tamim added.
\nAlthough Bangladesh haven\u2019t announced its vice-captain, Liton Das led the side to a 2-1 home victory over India last year when Tamim was injured. He also captained the side during the test against Afghanistan.
\nTamim feels a number of people can fill the role.
\n\u201cI am sure there is lot of cricketers in our team who are capable of leading the side in my absence. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a big deal.\u201d
\nHe is expecting a tough fight from Afghanistan despite winning the test match with ease.
\n\u201cThey are one of the best bowling units in white-ball format and Rashid Khan is back so I am expecting it to be challenging and it won\u2019t be a cake-walk like the test,\u201d he said.
\nAfghanistan won 11 out of 15 matches in the ICC ODI Super League and is brimming with confidence.
\nCaptain Hashmatullah Shahidi believes Rashid Khan could give them the edge in the ODI series.
\n\u201cOf course, he (Rashid) is a big man for us. When he is with us, as a captain, I feel very confident,\u201d Shahidi said.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a positive sign for us. He didn\u2019t play the test for us but now he is available in the ODI series. And I know he will do good for us.\u201d
\n\u201cThe test game gave us a lot of lessons. So we are well prepared now. We don\u2019t know what is going to happen. We have prepared for everything.\u201d (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHATTOGRAM, 4 Jul: Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal wants to assess his fitness by playing the opening game of the three-match one-day international series against Afghanistan. Tamim was ruled out of the one-off test against Afghanistan last month, which Bangladesh won a record 546-run margin, due to a lower back issue. The injury resurfaced during a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-219715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}