'T20s are different'

The air is filled with the expectation of a win. It seems that nobody is ready to look back after Bangladesh's 3-0 triumph in the ODI series. But Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza tried to paint a realistic picture when he talked about his team's chances against Pakistan in today's one-off T20 International in the pre-match press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.

Bangladesh tried and found answers to many questions in the 50-over version cricket, but T20s still remain a mystery for the Tigers and that was why Mashrafe didn't raise expectations by saying that they were favourites in today's game also, like they were in the ODI series.

The "Narail Express" however didn't completely rule out his team's chances of continuing their winning streak against Pakistan, as he believed that anything could happen if his team continued their good and positive approach on the field. 

"We are very much positive. It will be altogether different from the ODI series. In every game the start is important, but in T20s the start is more important than any other format. I hope we will be able to achieve a good result if we make a good start," said Mashrafe.

The Bangladesh skipper pointed out their lack of T20s -- they played their last T20 match in the West Indies in August last year which was abandoned after 4.4 overs -- after their World Cup match against Australia in April 2014 and none of the players except Shakib Al Hasan has played in any domestic matches either. Apart from lack of matches, he also pointed to the lack of T20 specialists in the side, but he expressed his optimism over the young players and highly praised Sabbir Rahman for his big hitting ability.

"There is Sabbir, who can hit the ball hard and we have Tamim Iqbal. The little Mushfiqur Rahim can play big shots and also Shakib. Altogether we have five-six batsmen who can play big shots. However, in ODIs a batsman gets the time to settle in the middle, but that is not the case in T20s. I believe if our stroke-makers can play their natural game then we will have a good chance," said an optimistic Mashrafe.

"Since we are doing really well in the ODI format, we now need to seriously focus on how to improve in the shortest format of the game, keeping the next World Cup in mind. We lack depth in this format," he added.

Mashrafe said he agreed with his counterpart Shahid Afridi's statement that Pakistan are a better T20 side than an ODI side, but Mashrafe wanted to cash in on his team's positive state of mind.