‘No one in Bangladesh has felt pain more than me’

The changed Bangladesh cricket started to move forward in 2015 following the leadership of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. Bangladesh achieved a new position in ODI cricket under the headship of the most successful skipper Mashrafe. Now the steering of the team is in the hands of Tamim Iqbal.

In 2011, he was assistant of Shakib Al Hasan. It took solid one year to become a full captain. Lots of ups and downs were seen during this period. Tamim reshaped him. Now he is in the middle of his successful cricket career. The dashing batsman got the responsibility of captaincy during his best time.

He secured the prestigious position of best opener. Will he be able to become best captain in Bangladesh cricket? Can he take Bangladesh one more step further? Passing the ways of thorn, he now talks about the new aspirations. While talking to risingbd, he discussed about his plans in details. Yeasin Hasan, cricket correspondent of risingbd took the interesting interview over phone.

Here is the second phase of the interview:

First phase: “I don't believe in giving and taking at all”

Risingbd: You are now the captain of Bangladesh ODI team. It’s a pride to play for the country. Captaincy is a great responsibility here. The periphery of your dream increased more?

Tamim: I was made captain earlier too. But I wanted to become the position for long time. You know, long time can allow to create space in the team which is important for us. I am not too much skilled skipper. However, I have confident that I can do it. I need time for it. The fans of us should show patients in this regard. My only task is – I will try to do my best for my team.

Risingbd: Will Tamim be a good captain or a good leader? A captain woks inside in the stadium only. But, a leader always guards his soldiers anyhow. Which one will be Tamim?

Tamim: It’s tough to say anything about it right now. Time will say everything. No can predict in this regard. First I didn’t start my captaincy yet. Secondly I didn’t get scope to prove myself as a captain. If the almighty Allah stays beside me and get scope to the team then I will be able to say something about my captaincy.

Risingbd: As you are a captain and the canvas of working is huge. Our domestic cricket is much stronger. If any cricketer don’t get his desired options doing well in domestic cricket. Will you fight for him?

Tamim: Listen, I am not proved skipper yet. If I want to do something for anyone, I have to prove myself as a captain. I have to achieve that first. Bangladesh team need to better performance. If I personally perform well and can lead the team successfully then I will want to do many things. Then it will be easy for selectors or board members. Otherwise, if I keep shouting without doing anything then nothing will happen. I have to achieve my position first to fight for others.

Risingbd: You made your debut at the age of 18. If any young player at that age join your team, then how will you prepare him?

Tamim: If any cricketer of age 16-17 want my suggestion then I will tell him about the thoughts. He should not thing about the top 11 performers. I he becomes a player of under-19 then he should think about the big leaving the thoughts of playing in under-19 team only. He should have a mentality to become the player of top five performer in the team. This kind of thoughts make easy many things. Suppose, if you manage to score 50 or 60 runs and remain satisfied then you will not able to do century or more runs. Big thinking is important here.

Risingbd: Suppose as a batsman Tamim scores 300-350 runs in first series but Bangladesh lost the series by 2-1 gap. Will Tamim be able to enjoy that personal achievement?

Tamim: I don’t think so. Bangladesh reached in a position that if a player gets 12 wickets in a three match series but the team lost the series then he would become happy. May be personal thoughts tough him but team performance will not allow him to become happy. If you hit a century but lost the game. You may become happy but satisfaction will not touch you. Basically, that 100 runs become valueless at that moment. I will be happy if my team wins where I score only 40 runs. Doing good performance and losing the game doesn’t bring satisfaction.

Risingbd: You were in the list of top five performers before the world cup of 2019. Not only Bangladesh but also the world cricket kept eyes on you. You could not meet the expectation. Does it hurt you?

Tamim: Cricket is such a thing that I could not blame anyone. I might be able to do it. Actually, the responsibility is mine in this regard. May be that happed due to my mistakes. There was no lack of cricket skill. Even, there was no gap of fitness. Skills and fitness were in expected condition. I worked hard to gain fitness leaving the scope to earn Tk 40 lakh through premier league before the world cup. I had prepared myself fully for the world cup.

Risingbd: Then where was the problem?

Tamim: Actually, I was defeated mentally. I tried to do best and my expectation became too much high. As a result, silly mistakes seemed to me huge which created the damage. Well that’s now past. There were many things to learn. I learnt a lot from that event. Before big event playing anyone should try to remain simple leaving hard attitude.

Risingbd: Tamim scored 235 runs in eight matches in England whereas he scored 2,511 runs playing 52 matches in two world cups in 2015 and 2019. What do you think the matches before world cup in 2015 brought the peril?.

Tamim: Actually I planned a lot at that time. When, I went to play world cup in 2019, the experience of 2015 world hunted me. I never thought about the anything during that two world cups. Just went to the field, batted well and enjoyed the matches. I had no headache regarding runs.

But, before England tour, I was mentally prepared to do better but failed. You know if you try to do something forcefully then that would turn different. My previous thoughts didn’t work. That’s it. There is nothing to be ashamed that I failed due to my mistakes. I accepted it.

Risingbd: You said that you worked hard. After so much effort, you failed. Did it give you mental pain at that moments?

Tamim: I can assure you that No one in Bangladesh has felt pain more than me. I can’t explain that how much expectation I had felt at that time. I knew that the team depends on me. I failed then and the responsibility was also mine.

Risingbd: Our former coach gave you a responsibility to build a long inning. The incumbent coach Russell Domingo asked you to choose attacking play mode. What’s the main challenge during shifting gear of the game?

Tamim: First point is- our former coach did not say anything like that. These are actually man made (laughing…). Even our incumbent coach said if anyone from top five batsmen can do batting at least 40 over then that’s good for the team. No discussion like attacking, defensive batting or bowling issues take place. Making big innings is the main task of a set batsman. Basically our main problem is – we take small issues seriously. The incumbent coach said so.

Risingbd: The last question is – what are the best innings of Tamim in the eyes of Tamim?

Tamim: I will not term the issue as best innings but I can tell you about the five inning those I enjoyed a lot. The 125-run against England in 2010 at Mirpur, 104 runs in 2016 in Dhaka, first century (132 run) after 2015 world cup against Pakistan, 103-run in 2010 in Lords and 82-run innings during the 100th game against Sri Lanka which we won.


Dhaka/Yeasin/Nasim