Its high time to bring glory to country: Khaled Mahmud

Online Desk

Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon believes they can expect their greatest result ever in this World Cup as the cricketers' body language and mindset is positive enough.

Terming the team environment is excellent following Tamim Iqbal saga, he said they boys are indeed desperate to achieve something big.

"The dressing room environment looks very good. There is high intensity amongst the players. They are pumped up to play well. Everyone is fit and there is no complain," Mahmud said in Dharamshala during Bangladesh's practice session on Thursday.

Mahmud was given the team director role once again Bangladesh cricket fell into a deep trouble following the omission of Tamim Iqbal from the World Cup squad. The off the field issue also seemed to have impacted the dressing room.

Tamim raised a serious allegation that a high up of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) proposed him to sit out or bat at middle order in the team's World Cup opener against Afghanistan.

He didn't disclose who is that big shot of BCB but made it clear he felt so insulted that he decided to skip the World Cup.

Bangladesh players were then given restriction to talk to media and keep them away from social media.

"We want the concentration solely on World Cup and therefore the cricketers are restricted. They are advised to keep them away from social media also. I think the discipline is key to the success," he added.

Mahmud also held some media responsible for embarrassing the players by misquoting them.

"Not all media but there are some who seemed to willingly misquote the players to go viral. They are dangerous for the team."

But the team is united to achieve big goal, he said, adding that Bangladesh are experienced enough to fulfil the goal and it should be in this World Cup.

"If they can't achieve something in this World Cup, then when," he questioned. "We have two players (Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim) who are playing World Cup from 2007. No team has a single player who played 2007 World Cup."

"We have nice combination of youth and experience and so I think we should achieve our goal. We are capable of reaching semifinal. We have beaten every team, who is playing in this World Cup. So it's the high time for us to bring laurel for the country. We can dream big."

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque