Tamim and Bangladesh eye Super Four spot in Asia Cup

Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal is hopeful of a good show in the forthcoming Asia Cup cricket that is set to be played in UAE from September 15 to 28. While addressing the reporters in Dhaka, Tamim said his team's initial target will be to qualify for the Super Four stage and then they will assess if they can go further into the tournament.

"We have to qualify for second round of Asia Cup. This is our initial target in the tournament. If we think to play final or get the trophy right now, it will not be a clear-eyed thinking," Tamim said on Thursday.

"If we want to see ourselves in the second round, we have to win the first couple of matches in the group phase. So the first two matches are more important to us than thinking of playing the final or getting the trophy," he further added.

The participating six teams of the tournament are divided by two groups. India, Pakistan and the winner of a qualifier tournament will fight in group-A and Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are in group-B.

Bangladesh will start off the tournament on September 15 against Sri Lanka then they will face Afghanistan on September 20. Tamim believes both of these teams are as tough as any other opponents.

"Asia Cup is a big tournament and all of the participating teams are committed to play their best cricket. Sri Lanka and Afghanistan also want to put their best foot forward to win in group phase. They are a tough opponent to beat. So our job is to play better brand of cricket and execute our game plan on the field properly," Tamim said.

"There is no team in Asia Cup that we never played against. We played against all of the them and we beat them also in our day. We hope to play according to our strength and have memorable result in the Asia Cup," added the southpaw.

Bangladesh’s best result in Asia Cup is two final appearances. In 2012, they lost to Pakistan by a tiny margin of two runs and in 2016 they were outplayed by India by eight wickets.

All of the five Asian Test playing nations and an associate member of ICC of Asian region will participate in this year's Asia Cup. The associate member will be picked from the Asia Cup qualifiers featuring the host Malaysia, UAE, Singapore, Nepal, Oman and Hong Kong, that is set to be played in Malaysia from August 29.