Bangladesh relying on Ashraful for victory
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Bangladesh will be relying on batting talent of captain Mohammad Ashraful to turn the tide in the ongoing five match series for getting a victory for consolation after the series loss.
“Ashraful is the most experienced batsman in our ranks when ever he peforms the team wins and we expect that he will return to form in coming two matches to lead the side to success “,said Bangladesh team’s Australian coach Jamie Siddons while talking to APP here on Monday.
He said captain’s role in inspring the team is always vital and it is proven in the past that whenever Asrhaful set the tone with his bat it helps the team to get success.
“ We have yet to play two more matches and if Ashraful manages to score a good innings surely it can motivate the team for getting a productive result “,he asserted. The coach expressed mixed feelings when asked to sum up the performance of the team in the so far played three matches which the home team won. “Losing three matches in a row is not a kind of result we were looking forward but there are some positive points that team posted their record high total of 285 against Pakistan and put up a fighting show in the thitd ODI through good batting and bolwing efforts”,he said.
“ The fact reamins that Pakistan is a too superior side comparing to Bangladesh and beating them is a challenging task and if we manage to win one game it will be a positive factor for enhancing the confidence of our team “,he said. Jamie Siddons urged the Bangladesh team to show consistency to keep imporving in all departments of the game in order to brighten their chances of success in coming two games. “ It is time to make progress ahead rather falling back”,he said adding “ I see promise and commitment in the players to give tough time to Pakistan team which is better in all aspects”,
“ The so far result achieved by us in the series is not good and we are here to play good cricket to groom a young side which is fast learning and fast coming up with each match “,he added. While anaylizling the performance of Bangladesh team in the third ODI he said it batted and bowled good and praised the batting of top socrer Shakib Al Hasan (75) and Tamim Iqbal (63) for keep them in hunt of target.
“ Pakistan has a most effective bowling attack and their variety of bowlers cut down our efforts for a come back with hostile bowling “,he said. “ It was difficult to chase over 300 runs target and at one stage we set the tone but the centuries by Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal put us under pressure “,he said.