Image Credit- AFP
Both Sri Lankan
coach Chris Silverwood and Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto downplayed
any story about the two teams settling personal scores during the course of the
following month.
While tensions between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have occasionally flared up in
the past, for the time being, neither side is expecting much more than a
competitive series played in the proper spirit.
“I am not
thinking about the past,” Shanto said, on the eve of the first T20I, in
Sylhet. “I think it will be a good series. We are doing everything we can
to win this series. I am not feeling pressure about our opponents. We are
focused on what we are doing. We want to do what we can control. Every
international series has pressure, and that’s also true for our opponents.
Everyone is capable of handling this pressure. Like I believe that all of our
five or six bowlers can be match-winners.”
Silverwood, too,
said that he wanted to forget the past and focus on the future, particularly
Sri Lanka’s preparation for the T20 World Cup, which begins in June.
“First and foremost, I expect this to be a very competitive series between
two good sides,” he said. “What happened in the past, for me, that’s
history. It’s gone. I think what we have to do is, certainly from our
perspective, is concentrate on what’s in front of us and remember what we’re
aiming for. Obviously we are now in the build-up towards the World Cup. I think
all teams now are sort of finalising their sides, their squads give an
experience, so ultimately that’s what it is.
“We’re building up to a World Cup, and it’s great that we have such a good
competition in front of us to do that, great series to do that in. So, as I
said, I’m expecting a very exciting series. There’s some dangerous players on
both sides. So I think it’ll be good fun. But as I said, what’s happened in the
past is history. It’s about what’s in front of us now.”