‘When we get together, we enjoy ourselves’

The upcoming season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will see former ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza team up with Bangladesh T20I captain Mahmudullah Riyad and ODI captain Tamim Iqbal at Dhaka and both Riyad and Tamim were glad that the three will be able to play together for the same team.

Mahmudullah and Mashrafe had played together for Gemcon Khulna in the last edition of the BPL, carrying their sides to the title. Mashrafe had been out of cricket since the last edition of the BPL, and for Riyad, it was an opportunity.

"I had the belief that we can play together again. Tamim is with us as well. We have more experienced players in our side compared to others and we're hoping that we can use that to our advantage in the field to get good results," Riyad said.

Mashrafe is known as a bit of prankster, capable of turning the team morale around.

"We always enjoy playing with or playing for Mashrafe bhai. We had a good time at the Bangabandhu T20 Cup and also managed to play good cricket," Riyad reflected.

There had been rumours of a rift between Riyad and Tamim, especially after the former opted out of the T20 World Cup in UAE this year. Asked about his relationship with Tamim, Riyad said. "There are a lot of things which are not in my hands. People assume a lot of things. From my part, I always believed that the bonding or relationship was always good," Riyad concluded.

Tamim did not want to count his chickens before they were hatched. Reflecting on whether his side are favourites, Tamim said: "We can't have such expectations but generally we three play in three different team and fortunately we will be playing together this time around and I am happy about that. Cricket is not all about winning or losing. It's also about enjoyment and when we three get together we enjoy ourselves anyway."