No additional pressure while playing against India: Mashrafe
Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza said his team will take the semi-final clash against India like any other match and there will not be any added pressure on his team when they play the defending champions at Edgbaston on Thursday.
‘There is always big hype surrounding the semi-final matches but we have to stick to our game. We cannot think that it is India whom we are coming up against and take extra pressure. It could have been any other side. We just have to play good cricket,’ said the Bangladesh skipper in the pre-match press conference, reports news18.com.
‘Past records don’t matter in a match of this magnitude and tomorrow is a new day. We are just concentrating on this match and we will try to play at our best,’ he added.
It is the first time in their history that Bangladesh have managed to make it through to the last four of an ICC tournament and Mortaza believes that the pressure will be on India more that his team.
‘We are playing the semi-finals for the first time but I think that India will feel more pressure than us. The burden of expectation is more on India as they have more people. But back home, people are expecting a lot from us as well. Whichever team manages to play better will win the match,’ said Mortaza.
Bangladesh produced one of their greatest victories even in the group stage when they knocked out New Zealand to seal a place in the semis. Even India skipper Virat Kohli called them a very dangerous side and warned his troops that India cannot take things for granted.
Mortaza took note of Virat’s praise and said that they are trying to improve with every match and play at their optimum levels most of the times.
‘We are trying to improve a lot and play at our best in every match. If you look at the match against New Zealand, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were batting really well but we clawed back into the match and came back strongly,’ Mortaza said.