He loves to eat sandwiches and burgers but now he is unable to treat himself to his two favourite snacks. It is hard to regulate the rice intake during lunch or dinner and sometimes he cannot resist the temptation and is caught catch red-handed by team officials. His favourite meal of chicken? That too is restricted. Bangladesh Under-19s' well-built opener Pinak Ghosh however has no complaints because even at the age of 17 he knows that one should sacrifice the small things in life to fulfil a big dream.

That is why the left-handed opener from Netrokona now only concentrates on his favourite things on the field of cricket, which is to perfect the pull shots and faultlessly execute the flicks and cover drives. Sometimes in cricket a special shot or a special delivery is engraved in memory, as Pinak's exploits were during the World Cup opening match against South Africa at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on January 27.     

His pull shots during his 43-run innings in the first game simply brought national opener Tamim Iqbal to mind.  Pinak picking up the length of a short delivery early and walloping a powerful pull over midwicket or smashing a pull high over the square leg boundary showed the promise of a talented batsman. He has got the aggression that Tamim has.

“When I first came to the Under-19 team I could not play pull shots at all. Babul [coach Mizanur Rahman] sir then worked with me. Now I have improved a lot and can even play this shot to an 80mph delivery.  I can pick the short ball comfortably,” said Pinak while he was talking to the reporters after practice at the Sheikh Kamal International Stadium yesterday.

The pull has now become a favourite shot for Pinak, a fan of Sachin Tendulkar, Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarker and Rohit Sharma.  But he knows the importance of picking up singles in order to play a big knock.  His mentors believe that this talented opener has got the rare ability to play big knocks and he proved it by recording the highest individual score of 150 for his country in the Youth ODI in Durban last year against South Africa.

“The pressure will be less if you can pick up singles. If you fail to pick up singles you will want to go for big shots, and that means that you run a risk,” he said. If Pinak can translate this understanding to the field of play along with the other top-order batsmen only then can Bangladesh continue their good run, because it was this weakness that raised its head during the first game.

Pinak has no shortage of confidence when he talks and he exuded his confidence by saying that India and Pakistan are good sides but not extraordinary and if they can play as per their potential no team will be a barrier for them. 

He has a long way to go to reach the top in international cricket, but it will be a strong footing on the cricketing map if he can fulfill his target of becoming the highest run-getter in the ongoing ICC Under-19 World Cup.