'I'm not a child out to prove myself'

It is something of a mystery that all-rounder Nasir Hossain failed to make the cut for the national team. Questions arose when the 24-year old all-rounder was not considered for the preparatory camp in Australia for the upcoming New Zealand tour.

At a time when Nasir has been proving his worth as a utility all-rounder by scoring runs at number three, taking wickets and grabbing a few good catches for Dhaka Dynamites in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), it has to be asked if he is trying to prove something.

“To me every match is important. There is nothing to prove. I am not a child that I would need to prove myself. My duty is to score runs and win matches for my team,” Nasir responded yesterday ahead of his team's clash against the Chittagong Vikings in Chittagong today.

He further added that he was enjoying batting higher up the order.

“Yes, it feels good. It always feels good when you score runs no matter what position [you play in]. I batted at number three and got runs and it was a suitable position for me.”

On the other hand, another out-of-favour performer, Shahriar Nafees, was focused solely on his hard work and was not thinking beyond that.

“My target is to continue working hard and performing for my team. I am only concentrating and planning on the BPL. Regarding the national team, everything depends on the selection committee and team management. It's not in my hands. As I got a chance to play in the BPL, I will try to play well here and fully concentrate on this tournament,” said the in-form Barisal Bulls left-hander ahead of his side's first Chittagong-leg match against Rangpur Riders.

The experienced left-hander was also lavish in his praise for captain Mushfiqur Rahim.

“Mushfiqur is a tremendous cricketer. He has been doing a good job for Bangladesh for a long while. It's not good to raise questions after failures in one or two games. He is performing well in this tournament and I hope he will continue. I will also try to contribute as much as possible.”

Everyone will be looking forward to seeing whether Chittagong will offer truer wickets after the dull Dhaka leg, but Nafees predicted that there would be good batting wickets despite the fact that a spin-friendly pitch had provided excitement during the first Test match between Bangladesh and England.

“Bangladesh played on a spinning track against England because we planned to do something different and we were successful in our plan. But from what I have seen during practice, I am hoping there will be a run-fest in these conditions. I'm guessing the batsmen will be favoured,” hoped Nafees.

Chittagong Vikings opener Anamul Haque echoed Nafees's sentiments.

“I believe the track will be batting-friendly and the batsmen will get the advantage. The bowlers will need to bowl in the right areas and get turn to be successful.”

The right-hander also blamed luck behind his failures in the Dhaka-leg, saying: “Overall I was unlucky. I was run-out in two matches, but I still have a chance as there are eight more matches to play. I will try my best.”