सैफ हसन ने दी जीतने की गारंटी, क्वार्टर फाइनल में पहुंचकर हमें फाइनल तक लाने की है संभावना

Bangladesh confident of reaching Asia Cup final

Bangladesh batter Saif Hassan expressed confidence in reaching the final of the Asia Cup after their convincing four-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the Super Fours.

"Yes, definitely we are confident of reaching the final," said Saif, who scored 61 runs from 45 balls. "Before coming here, everyone believed that we would play the final."

He added, "We are one step ahead and still there are two more matches for us, and our next focus is only on the next match."

Saif highlighted the importance of taking things step by step. "Definitely, one should dream and one should dream big but we should proceed step by step. Our next focus will be fully on the match against India and the match after that will be seen later," he said.

He also praised his opening partner Litton Kumar Das for guiding him after Tanzid Tamim departed early for a duck.

"After the wicket fell (Tanzid) our plan was to counter-attack. There wasn't a very specific plan, but we held a team meeting. Communication was good and Litton could anticipate what the next ball would be and that's what he was telling me and Alhamdulillah, it worked," said Saif.

Saif lauded Mustafizur Rahman's performance, who picked 3 for 20 in his spell. "Mustafizur Bhai's bowling is always good. He has been in very good shape for the last few months. Today, he gave away such few runs and took wickets at vital moments He is a World Class Bowler, so these situations are easy for him."

Sri Lanka rues missed opportunities

Sri Lankan all-rounder Dasun Shanaka admitted that they were 15 to 20 runs short and paid the price for it.

"Nothing went wrong actually. So it was a good match…and we were 10-15 runs short," he said.

Shanaka explained that they initially aimed for 160 but ended up with 168. "Actually, 160 was what we initially kept in mind because this was a wicket where runs could be scored. But while batting, we realized we could post around 180. However, they had two good bowling overs. In the 19th over, I think I couldn't hit a boundary. It was because they bowled well in those last two overs that we were limited to 168," he said.

He added that they also couldn't put pressure on Bangladesh as their bowling unit couldn't deliver as expected. "I think more than the fifth bowler, it was the execution. If we look at previous matches, Thushara and Chameera bowled a lot of balls hitting the wicket. In this match, I don't know, those two weren't able to hit that target (length/spot)," said Shanaka.