Bangladesh Vs Ireland T20 WorldCup Match

It was a match we were too anxious to win I guess because we thought that if we didn't then all our good work in that tournament will be ruined. We brought pressure on ourselves with the fear of losing to a team below us. But that's not the case here. The players are very confident and I have not seen the fear-factor in this side on this trip. They have good players, people with county cricket experience but we are up for anything, said captain Mohammad Ashraful who also believed that Bangladesh had a genuine chance of beating India yesterday.

"There were little mistakes we made that turned the game in India's favour. We always thought that 181 was gettable on that track but we lost too many wickets inside the first 10 overs. We don't have power hitters in the middle and later order like India and therefore the start was important. We did get the start but when I got out and Shakib (Al Hasan) and Junaed followed it was a difficult chase from there on," said Ashraful who nevertheless was pleased with the bowling and fielding effort.

A non-Test playing side unlike Bangladesh, will ride on the experience of their county players to make an impact in their first-ever World Twenty20. Eoin Morgan, who plays for Middlesex, was snapped up by England for the tournament, leaving captain William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin and the O'Brien brothers, Kevin and Niall, to keep Ireland's flag flying.It is almost the same Irish team that stunned in the 50-overs-a-side World Cup in the Caribbean in 2007 to advance to the second round.

Ireland have never played a Twenty20 international against an established side, but have won three of their four games against fellow minnows. They also stunned Worcestershire last month after bowling the English county side out for 58, a victory that pleased their coach Phil Simmons, the former West Indian opener.

"That win was just what we needed before the tournament," he said. "It was achieved without our top county players which says a lot for the depth of the squad. I will be very disappointed if we don't make our mark.

"Obviously our best chance lies in the game against Bangladesh but the beauty of Twenty20 cricket is its unpredictability. We will be going into the tournament in a confident mood."

Teams:

Bangladesh:- Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim(w), Raqibul Hasan, Naeem Islam, Mashrafe Mortaza, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain, Shahadat Hossain, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Syed Rasel, Mithun Ali, Shamsur Rahman

Ireland :- William Porterfield(c), Jeremy Bray, Paul Stirling, Andre Botha, Kevin Obrien, Niall Obrien(w), Trent Johnston, Kyle McCallan, Regan West, Peter Connell, Boyd Rankin, Alex Cusack, John Mooney, Andrew White, Gary Wilson