Anamul Haque, nicknamed Bijoy, is the rising star of Bangladesh cricket. The young wicketkeeper-batsman has been on the fringes of the national squad for a while but recently took charge of the Bangladesh U19 team for the World Cup in Australia. The youngster finished as the highest run scorer in the tournament (365 runs in six games at an average of 60.83) as Bangladesh scalped both Sri Lanka and Pakistan to finish a respectable seventh. The Daily Star’s senior sports reporter, Bishwajit Roy, caught up with Anamul to talk about his performances in the tournament and about his hopes for the future.
Daily Star Sport (DSS): How was the tournament in terms of result?
Anamul Haque (AH): It’s not too good and not too bad. We finished seventh and this was not our best finish at all but the thing is that we beat Sri Lanka in the group stage to reach into the second round and then defeated Pakistan to finish seventh which is really encouraging. But what I want to say is that we played impressive cricket in the tournament and was able to hog the spotlight as a good team. And you know, most of our players are just 17-plus, so it’s not an easy task for them to cope up with the pressure in such a big tournament. Actually I’m not totally unhappy with the outcome though it could have been much better if we could beat Australia. We were also unlucky in the quarterfinal match against Australia.
DSS: What about your own performance?
AH: I’m really happy because as a captain and senior member in the team I could contribute something. It’s nice that one Bangladeshi player led the top run-scorer chart and became the only batsman to score two centuries. I really enjoyed my batting in the Australian conditions because the pull and cut are my favourite shots. I believe this performance will help me a lot in the future.
DSS: You already played for the senior team but could not perform as per expectation but you looked totally different with the junior side. What actually made the difference?
AH: I only played T20 matches for national team in Zimbabwe. True I could not play well there but it was mainly because of the conditions and also I lacked a bit of luck. Pressure is everywhere in international cricket but it’s a different kind of pressure when you play for the national team. Total environment is also altogether different but without any doubt the World Cup performance gives me confidence when I will get the chance again for the national team.
DSS: If you were asked to compare the conditions between Bangladesh and Australia, how would you differentiate it?
AH: It was my first trip to Australia. Weather was totally different from our country. The weather was cool and most importantly I m impressed by the facilities available there. The grounds are fantastic and the wickets were truly Australian nature. I think in future we will play much better cricket in Australia because we have also started to play on good pitches in the domestic competition. We have to make sure that we are playing in true sporting wicket in our country so that we can adjust to any kind of conditions.
DSS: Who are the other players in the team who impressed you most?
AH: I think everybody was very much sincere to perform well and what I can say is that we played as a unit. But still I want to mention the names of all-rounder Nayeem Islam, pace bowler Taskin Ahmed and opener Liton Das because they have great potential to represent the national team in future if they get proper guidance and do hard work.
DSS: How big was the challenge of being appointed captain for the World Cup after the team’s failure in the Asia Cup in Malaysia?
AH: It was a big challenge and I always love to take challenges. I must thank my colleagues and coaching staffs who have helped me a lot. Actually everybody was hungry to perform well in the World Cup to make up for the first round exit from the Asia Cup. Unfortunately our middle order didn’t click otherwise it could have been a different story and our bowlers were also not up to the mark compared to the Australia and South Africa attack.
DSS: What do you want to achieve in your career?
AH: Right at this moment my target is to sleep as much as possible (smile). Anyway I want to play for my country consistently for the next 15 years. I believe the talent is not enough to stay in the international cricket rather you have to make sure that you work hard to keep your position in the team first. I performed at different levels and now I have to prove that I’m good enough to play international cricket.
DSS: Who is your favourite cricketer?
AH: AB de Villiers is my favourite cricketer because he is good in all three formats of the game. I also like to watch the batting of Hashim Amla. In my country Shakib bhai (Shakib Al Hasan) and Mushfiq bhai (Mushfiqur Rahim) are my favourite cricketers.
-With The Daily Star input
