Tamim tells Tigers not to get panicked

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal on Monday urged his team-mates not to get panicked as the tri-nation Nidahas Trophy gets underway today with hosts Sri Lanka facing India in the opening match in Colombo.
The Tigers are the third team to compete in the Twenty20 tournament marking the 70th year of Sri Lanka’s independence and they will open their campaign against Rohit Sharma-led India on Thursday at the same venue.
Bangladesh will play as the underdogs in the tournament after their poor outing in their recent home series against Sri Lanka where they lost consecutive series in all three formats.
The absence of ace all-rounder Sakib al Hasan in the squad made the scenario even worse for the Tigers as the rest of the players could not come strong enough to handle the situation.
The squad looked too shaky and vulnerable without any proper head coach and Sakib’s injury only aggravated the situation.
‘First of all, we have to reduce our panic as we start to panic very early,’ Tamim told reporters in Colombo where they performed their first practice camp at the P Sara Oval.
‘But the most important thing is that we have to start very well in the first match of the tournament,’ he added. 
Both hosts Sri Lanka and India also will be looking forward to make an initial impact in the series while facing each other in the tournament opener.
The hosts will miss the service of their regular skipper Angelo Mathews though they showed that they were much capable without the all-rounder beating Bangladesh comprehensively in both the Twenty20s. 
The presence of Chandika Hathurusinghe in their dugout made them a completely changed side after horrifying year when they were at their lowest ebb at one point.
Sri Lanka, who suffered eight consecutive matches in the shortest format last year, put behind their misery with 2-0 win over Bangladesh, which must have given them a confidence boost. 
Despite resting several key players like skipper Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav who were regular faces in Indian team, the sub-continental giant would be favourites before going into this series.
India came with having a terrific recent away series win against South Africa where they defeated the hosts 2-1 in T20Is, which earned them their third consecutive Twenty20 series win. 
The tournament provides their young players like Washington Sundar, Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Siraj, Deepak Hooda and Rishabh Pant a perfect opportunity to showcase their talents in international platform.
India have a big advantage over the hosts as they won 10 of 14 matches against their sub-continental opposition including victories in their seven last meetings. 
The tournament opener is scheduled to start at 7.30pm and will be telecast live on GTV and Channel 9.  

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net