Beating India can propel us in World Twenty20 - Ashraful

Bangladesh have had two consecutive defeats in their warm-up matches but captain Mohammad Ashraful believes a good start in the World Twenty20 could take them beyond the Super Eights stage. Bangladesh are grouped with India and Ireland, with the top two teams from each group progressing to the Super Eights stage, and Ashraful is confident of his team's chances. "Our first goal is the Super Eights, but if we have a good start against India [at Trent Bridge on Saturday], it will give us the confidence of going far in the tournament," Ashraful said.

Bangladesh lost to Australia by 38 runs on Monday and to Sri Lanka by six wickets on Tuesday, but Ashraful did not seem too perturbed. "It's been a good workout for us," he said after Tuesday's game. "This is a format in which any side can beat the other. It's not a lottery but everything depends on how a team plays on that particular day."

Allrounder Shakib Al Hasan was also pleased the preparations before the main tournament, but called for a better effort in the fielding department. "Our preparation has gone well so far I think," Shakib said. "We fought all the way and created winning situations. This has boosted our confidence. Against Sri Lanka we did not bat well but the bowling brought us back in the game. We were in fine batting form against Australia and were going at 10 an over for most part. Our fielding has not been up to the mark yet so we need to work on that. It is a bit windy in England and we I think we have to adjust to that when we field."

Shakib returned impressive bowling figures of 4-0-18-2 against Sri Lanka and was quite consistent with the bat as well, however, the world's No. 1 ODI allrounder was not prepared to sit on his laurels. "Twenty20 is still a new format for me and I have not played that many games," Shakib said. "I have done well in ODIs but we'll see how it goes in this tournament. The practice matches give us an indication of where we are and having made a few runs and taken wickets, I am going into this tournament very confident."

Meeting India in the first match of the group would surely bring back memories of the 2007 ODI World Cup match at Port of Spain where Bangladesh won by five wickets to dump India out of the competition but Shakib was more focused on Saturday's clash.

"Yes, we do talk about that match and it lifts us no doubt," Shakib said. "However, this is a totally different format and conditions are different. We have to field well to win matches and get the batting and bowling plan right. How we prepare is very important."