BENGALURU (Reuters) – The last time Dharamsala hosted a one-day international in 2017, India’s mighty batting line-up was dismissed for a paltry 112 by Sri Lanka, but Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe expects the tracks at the venue to assist big totals in the World Cup.
India’s fall was down to swinging and seaming conditions at the picturesque venue surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and Hathurusinghe said before Bangladesh’s game against Afghanistan on Saturday they will take a late call on their playing side.
“The wickets look really good for one-day cricket. I thought very firm wicket, nice covering of grass,” Hathurusinghe said in a press conference. “I think it’s a really good sporting wicket.
“I’m expecting some high scoring on this ground. The combination we will decide tomorrow morning and see the wicket again, because the curator said he’ll do a little bit of work today as well on that wicket.”
Hathurusinghe understands it is still early days in the showpiece tournament but said Bangladesh have set themselves the target of reaching the semi-finals and backed the team to achieve that goal.
The South Asian side’s best performance in the World Cup was a quarter-final appearance in 2015 and reaching the Super Eights in 2007.
“Yeah, we all want to win the World Cup… if we win four-five games, we give ourselves a chance to get to the semi-final – that is our first aim,” Hathurusinghe said.
“I think we have a good enough team to do that.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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