Wake-up call before World Cup: Mehidy on BAN's ODI series loss to Afghans

Mehidy Hasan, the all-rounder from Bangladesh, believes that the team's disappointing loss to Afghanistan in the ODI series serves as a necessary wake-up call before the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

Bangladesh finished a tumultuous week on and off the field when they slumped to a second consecutive defeat to Afghanistan in Chattogram on Saturday and now must attempt to regroup ahead of the 50-over World Cup in India at the end of the year.

While Bangladesh are ranked seventh on the current Men's ODI Team Rankings and qualified for this year's World Cup courtesy of a third-placed finish during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League, the form they have displayed in two matches against Afghanistan thus far has been well from their best.

The recent form reversal may have something to do with the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the retirement of ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, while Mehidy himself is among a group of players that have been performing well below their best.

But the Bangladesh all-rounder is not perturbed and thinks his side's latest setback may be a blessing in disguise and it will allow them to identify the kinks in their game and work hard on them prior to the start of the upcoming Asia Cup and the World Cup in India in October and November.

"One thing that was good is that we have an opportunity now," Mehidy said as quoted by ICC following Bangladesh's 145-run loss to Afghanistan in the second ODI.

"Losing this series meant we can work on where we lacked and where we need to improve.

"Since we have World Cup and Asia Cup games against them, we can plan our batters' gameplan, which bowlers we can target or how we can stop their batters.

"Since we have three months before the World Cup and one-and-a-half months before the Asia Cup, every cricketer can plan individually."

Bangladesh's first match at the World Cup will come against Afghanistan in Dharamsala on October 7, while Mehidy's side are also drawn alongside their close rivals in the Asia Cup.

Mehidy knows Bangladesh made mistakes during their ongoing ODI series against Afghanistan and is confident his side will be able to right their wrongs when the stakes are higher later in the year.

"I had told at a press conference before that if we played this series badly, it wouldn't mean we have become a bad side. Our record is very good and we qualified for the World Cup. Our team combinations are good and the players are in good touch. Overall we are confident," Mehidy declared.

"The lacking that we had in these two matches and the mistakes we made will allow us to become more alert since we have big series ahead of us. We have Asia Cup and World Cup games against them and I hope we would be able to overcome our errors.