'Winning is always our aim whoever we play': Hathurusingha not taking Ireland lightly

Bangladesh will be looking forward to playing their best cricket and keeping a winning momentum going as they take on visiting Ireland in the three-match ODI series opener on Saturday at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

The match starts at 2 pm.

"We respect Ireland just like England but we don't fear any team. We are not going to treat Ireland any less than how we prepared for England. When we play our best cricket, we are good enough to beat most teams. It is our mantra," Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said, summing up their approach toward the series.

Bangladesh are high on confidence following their landmark T20 whitewash of world champions England and they would start the Ireland series as hot favourites. 

Ireland are visiting Bangladesh for the first time since 2008 for a bilateral series. 

Of the 10 ODI matches between the two sides, Bangladesh won seven and lost two while the other match ended in a no result.

Ireland won the maiden encounter between the two sides in the 2007 ODI World Cup in Bridgetown, West Indies and the last time they beat Bangladesh was in 2010 at Belfast. 

However, in the last decade, it has been a one-sided affair with Bangladesh dominating proceedings.

This will be the two sides' first match in this decade as the two sides last met in 2019 in Dublin.

It was a match of the tri-nation tournament before the 2019 World Cup where West Indies were the third team.

Bangladesh won that match against Ireland, comfortably by six wickets. 

The final was between Bangladesh and West Indies and the Tigers won there as well. 

It was the first multi-nation series they won after getting Test status.

Apart from the two ODI series defeats at the hands of England in 2016 and most recently in the last month, Bangladesh have won the rest of their ODI bilateral series at home since 2015.

Despite having an upper hand over the tourists, Hathurusingha refused to take Ireland lightly.

"Winning is always our aim whoever we play. No team is easy in international cricket. They beat England during the World Cup. On their day, any team can beat anyone," he said. 

The coach however hinted that there be will some changes in starting XI in the first ODI against Ireland as the team wants to expand its pool of players, eyeing the upcoming ODI World Cup in India.

"We are trying to expand our pool of players regardless of who we play. (But) we will try to win," he said.