Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Jonathan Trott post-match press conference Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 3rd Match, ICC CWC 2023

Bangladesh player Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Afghanistan Coach Jonathan Trott post-match press conference Bangladesh vs Afghanistan, 3rd Match, ICC CWC 2023.

Bangladesh player Mehidy Hasan Miraz post-match press conference (Bengali)

Afghanistan Coach Jonathan Trott post-match press conference

Bangladesh player Mehidy Hasan Miraz post-match press conference transcript

Reporter: A player has to wait many years. So, since your debut in 2016, how do you describe the last 12-15 months, if you talk about today's game, where you took three wickets and scored 50 runs, in the very first game of the World Cup today?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: Praise to God! See, one thing as you said, there are good runs coming from the batting from the India Series, because I have worked a lot on batting. I have thought a lot about how to improve my batting. At the end of the day, if I do well in my batting, the team will benefit a lot. So, I have prepared myself mentally. Obviously, the team has supported me. They have given me opportunities in different places. Of course, it is a great achievement for me. I am playing very well. It is definitely a great thing for me.

Reporter: I have an additional question. You have batted in so many positions this year- opening, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, until 8. I think you didn't bat in 6th position. How do you adjust? Can you explain what you think before going to bat at each position?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: See, one thing is that it's important for us to adjust as cricket players. Not just me, I think all our players have reached here to adjust to this situation and it is very important to adjust to achieve something big. Obviously, what I tried to adjust; I have always batted at number 8. So, I thought that I may not always get an opportunity at number 8. There are only fewer balls in hand there. But if I get a chance, I can give my 100%, be it in any position. I have prepared myself mentally and thought about what I can do. So, this is what I have done.

Reporter: Okay, Miraz, I have two questions. The first one is, in continuation of this question, if you bat at 8 or 1, the two are not the same in the mental preparation. Or when you bat at 3, 4, or 7, the mental preparation you spoke about, there is definitely a difference in it. Can you explain the difference? What are the differences?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: There are different situations and different positions. I don't try to think much about it. I think about it since I got the opportunity, I will try to utilize it. It's good to bat in any psition above the 8th position because I believe in myself that I can bat.

And at the end of the day, the team will benefit if I can play well. Of course, sometimes there are problems, but I don't think much about the problem, thinking that whatever position I am put in, I have to perform well for the needs of the team. At the end of the day, we all play for the team. Today we won the match everyone in the team is happy and I would say that the people of Bangladesh are also happy. So, I try to do this to play in any position for the needs of the team.

Reporter: Since the time of Russell Domingo you have been told that Shakib is next, so today you two were bowling in a partnership and they were having a lot of problems playing you. What was your discussion at that time? Or how much does this partnership inspire each other? I mean, Shakib definitely inspires you. But have you seen anything like this, that your bowling or such a partnership is built then the captain himself gets inspired from you?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: Yes, what you said, see, I didn't bowl well in the first over, I was a bit cautious in my mind. I was a bit nervous in the first over. Because if you have seen, I couldn't bowl well in the first over. I gave nine runs but Shakib told me one thing, you can never succeed if you bowl in a negative mindset. You have to always bowl with a positive mindset. And in these big tournaments, you have to be always positive. So, if they are hitting you, it's not a problem if they're hitting you (the ball), but they will have to charge you while hitting the ball and you keep bowling in a good position. If you can do these things, then it'd be good for you. At that time, it was already a drinks break.

Then he explained to me for a long time, that here in these conditions, you should bowl like this. So, I prepared myself mentally. I understood how to bowl. Obviously, everyone supported me and I bowled well. These small important things work for the team. Ultimately, see, if everyone plays well, the captain becomes very happy. Obviously, when the team performs, everyone is happy, and the captain is also happy. Because he is the captain of the team.

Reporter: Miraz, in the last two or three years, we have been seeing the change or transformation of Taskin Ahmed, seeing this we all say that it's Taskin 2.0. So, Miraz, I mean, your bowling was already there, you're one of the quick fielders of the team, and now the batting seems to be going the way you wanted. So, you are proving yourself as a complete all-rounder in all three places - batting, bowling, and fielding. Can we say that it's your new transformation or change?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: So, what was the first question about Brother, Taskin?

Reporter: The changes he had, now is it happening for you as well? I mean if you are proving yourself as a complete all-rounder?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: If you see that Taskin was not in the team for about 3 years. He has worked hard mentally as we have seen. He has struggled a lot and he has come back with a lot of effort. And when he has come back, he has come back well. I think the hard work Taskin did in the last three years is now bearing fruit. And what you've said about my batting, I have always said that if I can bat, at the end of the day, I will benefit and the team will benefit as well. So, why don't I bat well? So, I always try to practice batting and I try to speak to the people I like and see how I can improve.

Reporter: Miraz, you are one of the few players in this World Cup who has been the best player in the U19 World Cup. So, such a stat if you dream in the main World Cup? The second question is, Bangladesh wanted to start the World Cup with a win. So, such a convincing win, making them all out by 156 (runs)! You will win in such a way; did you have such an imagination?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: We didn't think like this. We never thought about what will happen or not. We never thought about it from the start. We thought we would play ball to ball and our bowlers would bowl in a good place. And the batsmen will score runs. So, end of the day, whatever the result will come or not, it will come at the end. But we never thought about this. But if you look towards the result, then your focus will never be on the actual task. So, we will then forget our actual task. So, the thing we always think about is that our bowlers will bowl in the right place, and our batsmen will perform. If we can do these things, we will win the match. You see, the result has ultimately come in our favour because the bowlers have bowled well. Maybe they couldn't bowl well at the beginning, but they came back very well. And as you said about all-rounder performance. If I can do an all-rounder performance in a big tournament, it will be a big achievement for me and for the team. So, obviously, it is everyone's dream.

Reporter: Miraz, a small question. There is a belief that even if Dharamsala's wicket is not green-topped, the spinner doesn't get much help. It's not a spinner-friendly wicket. But today, your and Shakib's performance has proved this wrong in a way. How did this happen? And can this help in the next match against England? What is your assessment?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: If you see one thing when the pace bowlers were not doing well in the first half, the pressure came on the spinners. But from the start, Shakib bowled very well. He took two wickets. From then the team got a boost. From then I also started bowling well from one end and Shakib also bowled well from the other end.

And the pace bowlers also bowled well after that. So the expectation was not such that actually. Really, we did not expect such a turning wicket in Dharamshala. But when we bowled two-three overs, I bowled, Shakib bowled, and then the ball was turning a little, it was a bit slow. They were giving this information to the bowler. Because if I bowl in a good place and if the ball turns a little, I pass the information to the captain and the bowlers. The captain also passes this information to the bowlers on how to bowl on this wicket. So, the communication was good among everyone. That's why it was good for us.

Reporter: What's your assessment of today's outfield? Because we have seen several times the dust coming out when the pacers were bowling. We saw Mujib was struggling a bit when he was saving a four. Since you were on the ground, what's your assessment of the outfield?

Mehidy Hasan Miraz: The outfield was a bit heavy. Because you could see here that the outfield was a bit heavy. The ball was not travelling much. Actually, there is no point in blaming the outfield because you have to perform at the end of the day. In any situation, every player has to be ready to play. You cannot give excuses after coming to such a tournament that the outfield is bad, the wicket is good or bad. So, I don't think there is a chance of giving such excuses.

Reporter: I hope this question is not asked in Bangla because I don't know. The pitch helped your spinners but not Afghan spinners that much. Was it was expected for you?

Miraz: From the start we didn't expect that. You know actually from the start, Shakib and me did very well. And the first few balls, turned a little. And after that, Shakib passed on the information that the ball is turning. So, if you bowl on the right track, it would be good for spinner as well as pace bowlers. So, we just discussed and thought about how to bowl in these conditions and then the bowlers bowled really well. At the start, our fast bowlers, they didn't bowl well, but they did come back strongly.

Afghanistan Coach Jonathan Trott post-match press conference transcript

Reporter: I thought the game was going pretty well the start, what is your assessment of where and why things didn't go so well after that start?

Jonathan Trott: I thought we obviously started well, close to 100 in 20 overs. And then we just had soft dismissals really. Guys giving their wicket away, going against what we had as a game plan with regards to that. We played, I thought, pretty well leading into the game against Sri Lanka. I think we got close to where we want to be playing in the warm-up games. But it's about dealing with the pressure of World Cup cricket and playing in major tournaments. So that's where we fell short today. I think we lost something like 73 for 9. Bowled out in 38 overs, something like that, 38 - 37. So that's a disappointing thing and it's really difficult to win cricket matches when you bat like that.

Reporter: Just wanted to ask about the outfield as well. We obviously saw quite a few players sort of slipping over the deep throughout both innings. What was your take on it? Was the ground fit to host this game?

Jonathan Trott: I don't think that's a decision for me to sit here and make an assessment of. I just think if you've got players unsure of whether they can dive, we see the product of cricket all around the world where players are taught and encouraged to improve their fielding. And when you've got players worried about getting injured, I mean, we're lucky Mujeeb he hasn't got a serious knee injury towards the end. Yes, he probably shouldn't have dived on his knee, but we saw so I think it was Devon Conway from New Zealand early on as well.

So, something for them to look at, but it's not the reason why we lost today. I'm definitely not putting any blame on that, but that's something to keep an eye on for the future, hopefully.

Reporter: Definitely in such tournaments, the first match losing or winning has its impact. What do you think of the first match and the coming matches?

Jonathan Trott: I’d like to see us bounce back. I think, obviously, we know the areas we need to improve. And we've got two big games in Delhi now against India and then England. So, we've got to dust ourselves off. We travel tomorrow to Delhi. A couple of practices and then a big match against India, which is going to be a great spectacle. I know the boys will be really, really up for it.

Reporter: You spoke about the batting coming unstuck after a point. But what do you make of the decision making some of your top order batters? Because the talk yesterday from Hashmath also was that, you know, there is a sense of familiarity for your team having played so much in India, having played the IPL. But would you say the decision making today with shot selection was a problem?

Jonathan Trott: I think when you lose nine wickets for 73 there is a problem, yeah. So, the decision making, the stability, certainly when you get bowled out in 38 overs, that was the problem today.

So, I would say middle order needs to take more responsibility. But also, if there's momentum in the game, try and wrestle the momentum back. It just seemed to go all Bangladesh's way and no one stayed there and sort of tried to absorb some pressure.

It seemed to be sort of one-dimensional a little bit so that's something we've got to work on.

Reporter: Question inaudible

Jonathan Trott: I think so. I think we've seen it in spurts. I just think we need to do it more consistently for longer periods of time certainly over 100 overs for an ODI. It's a long day and you need to be on it all the time.

So being more consistent in our basics is what's going to look after us going forward in this tournament. I look forward to the challenge that lays ahead in the next coming matches and I'm excited to see how they respond.

Reporter: question inaudible

Jonathan Trott: I think they just played... We didn't play the spinners at all well. And they played our spinners OK. I think they played pretty well. It just was stark contrast to the way that we played the Bangladesh spinners - no disrespect to them at all. They bowled well, they're fine bowlers, but we allowed them to bowl well, I thought it did turn a little bit as well. I thought it sort of held up. I thought if the game had gone another 20 overs or 12 overs in our innings and then a little bit longer, I think the ball would have spun towards the end of the innings as well.

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