On the second day of its three-day tour in Bangladesh, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 trophy was shown off at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, where current and past national players had some fun with it.
There was a lot of excitement among the kids. Shamim Hossain, for example, couldn’t help but kiss the World Cup prize right before the picture shoot.
Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad, who have been playing for a long time, were seen taking pictures with the World Cup trophy, which showed that they were just as excited as the younger players.
Before, a cartoon Mushfiqur took the prize to the stadium. The experienced bowler may have been hiding his long-held desire to win the World Cup for Bangladesh behind his big smile.
Mushfiqur will play in his fifth ODI World Cup, and it’s possible that it will be his last time at the big event. Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, and Riyad are all in the same boat.
The 36-year-old hopes that the upcoming World Cup will be special, and he said that Bangladesh’s huge knowledge could be a key factor this time.
“Experience is a big part of it, but you have to play better cricket on the given day, no matter how good you are on paper. “The most important thing is that I’ve been lucky enough to play in the last four World Cups, and if I get the chance to play again, I’ll try to make it even more special than the last four,” Mushfiqur said.
“We have the strength and the confidence, but everything will depend on how well we start. I think getting off to a good start is very important.
“Since we have played ODIs for a long time and have been playing good cricket for the past four or five years, we can hope for a very good and unique result this time.”
Habibul Bashar Sumon, who is also a past captain of Bangladesh and is now a judge, says that people have always been interested in the World Cup prize.
The first time Bangladesh went to the World Cup, in 1999, they just took part. Bashar is now more hopeful and wants to get closer to the trophy this time.
“We played in the World Cup in 1999, and to be honest, seeing the prize made me very excited. The World Cup feels like it started today (yesterday). We were in a good place in 2019 and went there with a good team,” Bashar said.
“We don’t just want to play well; we want to do something very good. We want to move toward the prize. We’ve played well in past World Cups, but that didn’t always mean we won. This time, we want things to work.
“Everything is fine, but how the team performs at the World Cup is very important. We’ve been in great shape for the past year, and if we can keep that up at the World Cup, we should do well,” Bashar said.
Many people, including Mushfiqur and Bashar, think that the upcoming World Cup is Bangladesh’s best chance to make it a memorable one. This time, people expect more and more from the Tigers. Can they still dream big?