We are getting away from the rules, so it's disappointing, says Mashrafe Mortaza

09/19/2018

Mashrafe Mortaza has stated that he is disappointed by the way the ACC has scheduled the matches of the Super four stage of the Asia Cup in UAE. According to the schedule, even though Bangladesh win and top the group, they will have to travel from Abu Dhabi to Dubai to play against India.

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) made a schedule for the Super four stage which stated that the leader of group A would play against the runners-up of Group B and leader of group B would play against the runners-up of group A. The schedule was made even though two matches were left to be played.

However, according to the revised schedule made by the ACC, India will be playing all their matches in Dubai itself, no matter where do other teams stand in their groups. The ACC also assumed that Afghanistan will finish first and Bangladesh will finish second in group B, whereas they haven't even played against each other after beating Sri Lanka.

ACC has now scheduled the Super four stage in such a way that India will play against Bangladesh and Pakistan will play against Afghanistan on Friday. Due to this, team Bangladesh will have to play against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi on Thursday and then travel all the way to Dubai to play the first super four stage match against India. So even though they win, they don't have any other option other than traveling all the way to Dubai and playing their next match which might affect their fitness levels and consequently affect their game. This has displeased Bangladesh skipper, Mashrafe Mortaza because he expected that his team doesn't have to shuttle between two venues if they become the group leaders.

“It is very disappointing. Basically what has happened is that we were made the second team in Group B even before we played the last game. We came here with a plan. We would play Sri Lanka first and if we won and played well we would be group champions and play the runners-up of Group A. But this morning we heard that we are already Group B runners-up regardless of whether we win or lose tomorrow. So of course it is disappointing. It is an international match where we are representing our nation, so of course it's important. But whether you are talking about group stage matches or Super Four matches, there are certain rules within which they operate. We are getting away from the rules, so it's disappointing,” Mortaza quoted.

We are getting away from the rules, so it's disappointing, says Mashrafe Mortaza

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