Opener Shahriar Nafees will be concentrating on his own game rather than trying to step into the shoes of Tamim Iqbal as he feels no individual can fill the gap created by the absence of the dashing left-hander.
Nafees made his way back into one-day side after a long hiatus following a surgery on Tamim’s wrist. He is expected to open the innings with Imrul Kayes in today’s first one-dayer against New Zealand.
‘No individual can take the role of Tamim. The whole team will have to shoulder the responsibility,’ Shahriar told reporters on the sideline of a practise session at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday.
‘It has been quite a long time since I played my last ODI…probably two and a half years. Simply I want to replicate the kind a form I was in, in 2006,’ said Shahriar referring to the year in which he became the first Bangladeshi to score more than 1,000 runs in a calendar year.
‘I played some good knocks in domestic cricket which I want to carry in the international cricket,’ said Shahriar. ‘My main target now is to regain my place in the side and I know I’ve to show my potentiality.
‘I have been practising hard for the last two months and Jamie helped me a lot. We all spent more than two hours everyday and worked on our batting,’ said Shahriar, the former vice-captain of the national team.
‘But I have to prove myself in the middle. All hard work would go in vain if I don’t get runs,’ he said.
The 24-year-old southpaw vowed to transform his golden form in order to cement his place in the team.
‘I know when Tamim will return I will have to leave the place because he is undoubtedly the best performer in the side at this moment. I want to cement my place and want to prove that I am good enough to be among the first 14 players in the national side,’ he said.
