Let’s start with my regular conversations with Pakistani legend Javed Miandad. While working together with him for the development of Chinese cricket I have the chance to meet him regularly and we often share our views about many cricketing issues. It makes me really proud when he speaks so highly about the current Bangladesh side. He knows all of our major players’ strength and weaknesses and is fully aware of their talent. The success of Sakib al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mohammad Ashraful surely delights him and their failure also hurts him. You can say him a big fan of the Bangladesh cricket team. They have won the heart of such a great cricketer with their talent, ability and quality. I can proudly say to him that we have some world class performers in Sakib, Tamim and Ashraful. A lot of Bangladesh’s success will depend on the performance of these players. I am confident that Bangladesh can easily move to the second round of this World Cup if they shine in time. Not only Sakib, Tamim and Ashraful but we also have a few other youngsters in this team who can turn our dreams into reality. So, I am expecting a collective performance from the team. The performance of the team in the last couple of years have also increased our expectations. I always feel proud as I led Bangladesh in their first World Cup. But this time I am feeling a bit jealous as our current batch have got a chance to play the World Cup, inarguably the biggest cricket competition on the home soil. People expected just good cricket from us in 1999. I don’t think the fans expected us to reach in the second round in the last World Cup as well before our opening game. Once Bangladesh won the game people started to dream and I’m thankful to the players for realising their dream. But the situation is totally different now. All of the country’s cricket lovers now want their favourite team in the quarter-finals. There is nothing called second round in this tournament. After the first round, it’s the quarter-finals, a knock out match which will always give a chance to go further ahead. So, a dream to play in the semi-finals and final is not unrealistic at all. Sri Lanka were like us before they won the World Cup in 1996. If they can do it, why can’t we? Personally, I don’t want to put any pressure on the players by asking to play them in the final or semi-final. My advise to them would be to just enjoy the game. I would request them to give their best and the rest will take care of itself.
—Aminul Islam Bulbul, former national captain (1998-2000)
