Shakib Wants Lots of Runs in Asia Cup

Shakib Al Hasan, the captain of Bangladesh, anticipates success for his squad at the 2018 Asia Cup. The all-rounder, though, stated that he will approach each game on its own rather than setting any particular goals for his squad to hit during the competition. Before the team's departure for Sri Lanka tomorrow, Shakib made these comments at a news conference on Saturday in Mirpur.

On August 31, the day after the six-team competition begins, Bangladesh will face Sri Lanka in Kandy to open their Asia Cup campaign in Group B. The Tigers will next go to Pakistan and play Afghanistan, the other team in the group, on September 3 in Lahore.

The top two teams of each group will progress to the Super 4 stage, with Group A featuring India, Pakistan and Nepal.

"With the squad we have and the kind of preparation we have taken, we should do well in the Asia Cup," Shakib said. "We want to go match by match, not set a specific target for ourselves. We will try to win every match if possible."

Coach Chandika Hathurusingha was more specific in his assessment of the team's target, though, saying his team's first target would be to cross the first-round hurdle. 

In addition, Shakib predicted that the games will be high-scoring after playing for the Galle Titans in the Lanka Premier League alongside Towhid Hridoy and Shoriful Islam.

The batters should expect a struggle from the pitches there since they should generate a lot of runs, according to Shakib. "The pitches where we will play will be a little bit different from the ones we played on in the LPL, but overall the nature of the wickets will remain the same."

The loss of pacer Ebadot Hossain to injury was bemoaned by both Shakib and Hathurusingha, with the coach stating that "Ebadot is arguably the fastest of the five pacers who played in the past three series. For us, his injury is a setback.