Bangladesh and West Indies confident ahead of semi-final

Nazmul Hossain has been the star batsman with 208 runs in four matches, including an unbeaten 113 against Scotland, while the rest of the top order has made valuable contributions.

Seamer Mohammad Saifuddin is the team’s leading bowler with nine wickets, but it is the spin duo of left-armer Saleh Ahmed (eight wickets) and off-spinner and captain Mehidy Hasan (seven) that is expected to contain the free-stroking West Indies batsmen.

Nothing less than a place in the final will satisfy Bangladesh’s cricket-crazy millons who have seen the senior team reach the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup and then defeat Pakistan, India and South Africa in one-day series at home.

Bangladesh coach Mizanur Rahman insisted his team will not be affected by the expectations of home fans.

“From the very beginning we have tried to instill in the boys the fact that the World Cup games should be treated as any other match,” Mizanur said.

“You take one game at a time. You do the processes right and be the better side on the day and you become successful. We do not want them to think about the pressure of playing in front of a big crowd or the fact it is a semi-final or a final.”

Minazur added that the threat of West Indies’ fast bowlers did not worry him.

“We played against them ahead of the tournament and we won that series 3-0,” he said. “The boys are confident as we know about them. They do not rely only on fast bowlers. We have to plan for others too.”

Asked what could be a winning score in Mirpur, Minazur said: “Something in the region of 250 is the primary target, anything above that is a bonus.”