'I'm enjoying as much as I can'

A day after Tamim Iqbal cruised his way to a blistering 132 in the first ODI, he was busy trying to manoeuvre himself through an array of journalists at the team hotel, sporting a t-shirt that read 'Every Damn Day'. If his message wasn't clear enough in the lobby of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel that afternoon, then he surely did ascertain it a day after at Mirpur.

He surged into the past, rediscovered those exquisite drives, took a packed Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium back in time along with him to become only the third Bangladeshi, after Shahriar Nafees and Mahmudullah Riyad, to score consecutive ODI centuries. The secret behind Tamim's turnaround was simple; he has learnt to enjoy the game again, just like he did as a teenager when he had just entered international cricket.

"When I went out to bat, there was only one thing in my head… I wanted to enjoy as much as I could. I wanted to play all my shots. Only after I reached 80 did I actually think of the century. What's more important is that I remained unbeaten, on 116. I managed to do that just once before," exclaimed the opener at the post-match press conference.

"When I was young, I used to excitedly wake up at 6:00 am to play tennis-ball cricket and I used to enjoy a lot. Somehow I missed out on that feeling recently and I want to thank my teammates for helping me get that feeling back. I am enjoying as much as I can," he added.

Unlike the left-hander's controversial celebration in the first match, when he signalled the audience to 'talk now' in response to the criticism that he had been facing for the last couple of months, Tamim seemed a lot more excited yesterday. He lifted his bat and his helmet towards different stands of the stadium.

"I never plan how to celebrate… whenever I did that I failed to reach a century [laughs]. I do whatever comes to me naturally. I requested everyone not to take my last celebration negatively. I let out my frustration. One has to understand what I have been through. I would have accepted criticism against me, but not to my family. The last few months have been hard for them… but I never wanted to hurt anyone.

"I know that I may play bad again; a cricket career is like a circle. But I hope that at that point of time the criticism is restricted to me and not to my family," requested the player.