Bangladesh fancies chance of reaching semi-finals
By Edison Jefford
Stabroek News
April 9, 2007
Bangladesh skipper, Habibul Bashar credited the team's surprise victory over South Africa Saturday at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence to the clinical bowling performance from his front-line bowlers.
Bashar jokingly said that he would like to take the Providence wicket with him for the remainder of the team's run in the Super Eights since his bowlers carved their niche on the slow wicket at Providence.
Bangladesh's Syed Rasel (2-41), Abdur Razzak (3-25), Saqibul Hasan (2-49) and Mohammad Rafique's (1-22) proved too much for the formidable South African batting line-up Saturday.
An injured Herschelle Gibbs, pushed down in the order with an injury, came out and provided some resilience. Gibbs made 56 not out from 59 balls batting at number seven.
Bashar said that it was a great feeling to overcome the number-one ranked team in the world. Asked if that was a turning point for the team to graduate from being called 'minnows', Bashar said people will decide that not the team.
"We just want to play good cricket. It's a great feeling to beat the number-one team in the world," he said adding that Bangladesh was fancying its chances of reaching the semi-final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
Bashar observed that his team was in the habit of winning important matches beginning with the win over India in the group stages that set the stage for the omission of India from the Super Eights.
"This victory has come in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup. This game was a must-win for us and I am really happy," the Bangladesh skipper said while stating that the crowd support was excellent for them during the match.
"We felt like we were playing at home" Basher told the media at the post-match press conference at the Providence Stadium.
Mohammad Ashraful was named man-of-the match for his brilliant knock of 87 off 83 balls that saw Bangladesh to 251-8 from 50 overs with South Africa being restricted to 184 all out.