By IANS,
Dhaka : Bangladesh have put their celebrations for last Monday’s crucial six-wicket win over the Netherlands on hold until they are assured of a place in the quarter final in the cricket World Cup.
“We have bigger picture in our mind and this is the reason we want to go slow,” Soumendra Saha, the Indian sports psychologist of Bangladesh team, told New Age Tuesday.
Two wins in three days took the Tigers, as Bangladeshi cricket team is fondly called, one rung above England to the fourth place with six points in Group B. They had earlier defeated Ireland.
But to secure a place in the last eight, Bangladesh needs to win their last league match against South Africa Saturday with good run rate.
Bangladesh can also progress if Ireland lose a point in their remaining two league matches and at the same time West Indies beat England.
As nothing is certain, the Tigers decided to let the moment pass by quietly for the time being and to concentrate on the job ahead without getting carried away with whatever they had achieved.
This is for the first time the Tigers have won two consecutive matches in a World Cup as they also defeated England by two wickets in the same ground in Chittagong Friday.
Bangladesh kept their celebrations for their win agains the Netherland limited to a special dinner hosted by G.M. Kader, the state minister for civil aviation and tourism.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board president, A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal, also attended the dinner to congratulate the team.
“We know we have to win our last match to go through in the next round. So we are keeping our fingers crossed,” Saha said.
Saha said no complacency should creep in the team with the two wins which followed a humiliating nine-wicket defeat against West Indies.
Bangladesh had plenty of reasons to celebrate their win against England but a win against an ICC associate member means nothing unless it helps them to get through, Saha said.
“It’s very important to keep our head on our shoulder. That’s why we did not want to go overboard with the two victories,” New Age quoted him as saying.