Our goal is always to win, says Bangladesh skipper Mahmudullah

B'desh captain Mahmudullah with Soumya Sarkar (left) in Colombo yesterday. Pic/AFP

Bangladesh's captain Mahmudullah took a moment to step away from the cricket and preparations to reach out to the relatives of all those who had lost their lives in the horrific plane crash in Nepal.

At least 49 people were killed and several injured in the crash. "When we got the news of the crash, we were deeply distressed by it. About 30-40 Bangladeshis were onboard, it is very disturbing," said Mahmudullah. "There could be someone's close relatives who would have been on that flight, some I might have known, it's very sad.

'Prayers are with victims'
"Our prayers are with them and hope the families gather enough strength to battle through these stressful times." But, there was little Mahmudullah could do to make a difference from faraway Colombo other than focus on the cricket and try to give his countrymen some joy by winning. "We couldn't prepare at the nets yesterday [Monday] because of the weather conditions.

Today as well, it's drizzling but we have plans to wait for a little longer and see if we can train," he said, the day before taking on India. Mahmudullah said that his team had targets in mind for this tournament.

Bangladesh aim final berth
"Even before embarking on this tour, we had a clear goal that we have to make it to the final. The goal is always to win, we haven't lost our head over the previous win, we are still grounded," he said.

"There are question marks about our T20 skills, but I am hopeful we will be able to remove it steadily. We want to create a Bangladeshi brand of cricket." What was the brand of cricket they wanted to establish? "We need to be smart, the skills are there but we need to be smart to take those calculative risks - from taking on a particular bowler and whoever thinks can take him on, should go for it. There needs to be a good communication between every batsman. This will lead us to create our own brand. We don't have those kind of power-hitters and we acknowledge that fact."

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