Afghanistan's Gulbadin Naib feels 'at home' in Bangladesh

Afghanistan all-rounder Gulbadin Naib has been in fantastic hitting form, as evidenced by his performance in the recent India series. Thus the 32-year-old's inclusion in the Durdanto Dhaka roster has injected new life into the franchise's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) campaign. During an interview with Abdullah Al Mehdi of The Daily Star, Naib discusses the Bangladesh players, Afghanistan's ODI World Cup exploits last year, and why Afghan players are in demand in global franchise leagues.

The Daily Star (DS): Having competed in both Dhaka Premier League (DPL) and BPL, how would you rank the cricketing and the overall culture here?

Gulbadin Naib (GN): Honestly, I feel like I am at my own home here. The people are very friendly and they are very honest, which I've felt especially as a foreigner. When we're sharing the dressing room with Bangladeshi players, they are very friendly. Players such as Taskin [Ahmed], Mushfiqur [Rahim], Tamim [Iqbal] and the other guys make me feel like I'm not an outsider. I hope I will keep coming here again and again.

DS: What is the difference between playing for Afghanistan against Bangladesh and playing in BPL?

GN: When you're playing for the national side and when you are playing for a franchise, it's not much different; just the colours are different on the ground. The only difference is the pride we have as an Afghan.

DS: When players come to play BPL from other countries, spending time can be difficult for many. Do you experience boredom?

GN: I'm just trying to be myself. If I have my own teammates from Afghanistan -- like Najib [Najibullah Zadran], who is here, or Azmat [Azmatullah Omarzai] -- we are just trying to get together and go out for meals. Obviously, I like to know about new things, culture-wise and about people; different food too. I love going out and meeting Bangladeshis and their families. Last time we had a good time at Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's farmhouse in Dhaka. I find a lot of good things with the culture here, and that's the best experience.

DS: Afghanistan struggled at the beginning of the ODI World Cup but suddenly turned things around while showing great team chemistry. What was the secret?

GN: There's no big secret; it's just hard work. If you look at the last ten years of Afghanistan cricket's journey, we played against the top teams in the world. The good thing is our boys are playing a lot of franchise cricket all over the world, and that's another key factor behind our success. The best thing is not the cricket on the field, it's that the people in Afghanistan support us a lot. They give a positive energy to the team and it's always the same, regardless of the results.

Recently, we understood that we can beat any team in the world. Beating Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and Netherlands and nearly beating Australia at the World Cup was a big achievement for us. We had the goal of qualifying for the semifinals but we couldn't; it's part of the game.