We are here to be champions, we can't give up hope after losing a match

Before the start of the Asia Cup, the Bangladeshi players repeatedly said that their goal is to become champions. Their confidence is fading. Bangladesh's chances of reaching the Super Four are now now faced with a lot of ifs and buts.

Bangladesh are now faced with two calculations after the six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in their second Asia Cup match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. One is to beat Afghanistan in the next match and other other is to pray that Sri Lanka defeats Afghanistan. The first one is in their hands, but the other isn't.

Losing to Sri Lankans was also a hard hit. Bangladesh needed 14 balls to score their first run of the match. Even then, the opposition came back to chase down their target of 140 in 14.4 overs. It will be difficult for Bangladesh to turn around in the next match with such a net run rate.

However, wicketkeeper-batsman Zaker Ali, who represented the team after the Sri Lanka match, said, "There is no question of giving up hope. We will play to win the match. We came with a winning mentality in this match too, it didn't happen. We will go into the next match with a winning mentality as well. There is no other way.''

Then he spoke about their chances in the tournament, ''We have not just come to play matches in the tournament, we have come to be champions. We can't give up hope after losing one match.''

After losing 3 wickets for 11 runs, the team was essentially given a partnership by Shamim and Jaker's 86-run partnership off 61 balls. This is Bangladesh's highest partnership for the sixth or any lower wicket.

Zaker said about falling behind at the beginning of the innings. Liton had said the same thing earlier at the award ceremony; I think we lost the match in the power play. The wicket was very good for batting. If you score 140 runs on a good wicket, you have to do good bowling and fielding. But we couldn't do that. The match against Afghanistan is now a do-or-die battle.''