Do you fear the Afghan bowling attack given how the tournament went last year?
I think the words are respect in Rashid Khan. He's a wonderful bowler. I know he went for plenty of runs against Morgan against England, but that was just one of those days for him. Generally, he's very, very aggressive and tight at the same time, so a quality bowler. Then the other two spinners in Nabi and Mujeeb are quality, so we really do respect them, but we don't fear. A lot of the lads have grown up playing on spinning wickets, so they've faced a lot of spin bowlers, but we'll respect them because they're top international bowlers.
We saw Mustafizur and a couple of the other bowlers bowling to a boot you. Could you please tell us the idea behind that.
That was just a little bit of fun between myself and the bowlers. Training can get a little bit mundane at times, so I wanted to make sure we were on the money and trying the hardest to hit the boot. It was just a little bit of a challenge between myself and Saifuddin, and also it puts a little bit of pressure on him, so it's always good to practice under pressure.
You were in a similar position in the Asia Cup with having to win matches against Afg and Pak to get to the final.
I can draw on the experience in the Asia Cup. It was a wonderful clause, and we almost got there. We nearly won the final off the last ball. The Bangladesh team — and we all know from watching, if you really break it down and we do win these matches coming up, we only need five games, and we've won the World Cup. That's one way of looking at it if you think of them all as knockout games. Of course, that is not easy, and the first challenge and the first step is Afghanistan. That's why we won't look further than the next game, which is Afghanistan. They're a tough team. They really fought hard against India. We're really respectful of them. They pushed us hard in the Asia Cup, and thankfully, we came out on top in that game. We know it's going to be a difficult game today, but we're not fearful. We are confident.
Last three matches would be do or die match. Do you feel pressure?
You've probably hit the nail on the head, which means you've made a very good point. If you think too hard about this being do or die or the end of the tournament or anything like that, then the pressure, you can put too much pressure on yourself. So I'll be trying to take a little bit of that pressure off the team. They know the importance of the game, but my job is to make sure we concentrate on the game, and we do some smart things, and we play well because, if we play well, we'll have a good chance of winning the game. We try too hard, we put too much pressure on ourselves, I'm afraid we might not just get the result we want.
Is Saifuddin fully fit?
Physically, he's fine. He needed rest. His back was giving him some real problems. That's the real reason why he missed that last game against Australia. It was a physical thing. He couldn't bowl. You're not going to pick a player who can't bowl. His mental state, it is an important issue because the reports that came out were untrue. There was something about a meeting that I had regarding a replacement with Mashrafe and the man they had selected, but that didn't take place. So I would like you guys, before questioning the integrity make sure your information is 100 per cent.
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