Bangladesh 'capable enough' to beat India: Shakib Al Hasan

Shakib Al Hasan celebrates a wicket

Shakib Al Hasan has been on song in the World Cup 2019, he starred with the bat and ball for Bangladesh in the 62-run win over Afghanistan. After becoming the first cricketer to score more than 400 runs and 10 wickets in one World Cup, the all-rounder has sounded a warning bell to India.

Bangladesh play India on July 2, 2019, at Edgebaston and according to Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladesh are capable enough to beat the Men in Blue who are also the favourites to win the World Cup 2019.

"We have a very important game coming up against India, they are the top side and they are someone who is looking at the title. It is not going to be easy but we will give our best shot. We have to play our best cricket to beat India, they have got world-class players who can take the matches on their own hands. We have to at our best and I believe we are capable enough team," Shakib Al Hasan said in a video posted by ICC.

Shakib displayed a scintillating performance during Bangladesh's victory over Afghanistan on Monday as he scored 51 runs with the bat and took five wickets during his 10 overs spell.

Shakib said that they managed to implement their plans properly as they wanted to post more than 240 runs on the board.

"We thought we had enough runs on the board. It was not a wicket where a team can score 300 or 350. We knew that it is always going to be difficult because they got three quality spinners and we had to handle them well. I think we did that pretty well that is why we scored 262 runs. Our target was to play 50 overs and score 240 runs, it was our minimum target," he said.

The 32-year old also said that they wanted to put 'dangerous' Afghanistan under pressure by bowling as many dot ball as possible.

"We knew that it was not an easy wicket. So, we needed to make sure that we put them under pressure with the dot balls and that is exactly what we have done. We were never sure that we are going to beat Afghanistan because they are a dangerous side and a very good side. So, we needed to make sure that we do our job properly and give our 100 per cent and in the end, results will take care of itself," he said.

Every match for Bangladesh is a do-or-die match from here and Shakib will be the key in the clash of the two Asian teams, India and Bangladesh in the World Cup 2019.

With inputs from PTI

Catch up on all the latest sports news and updates here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates