Taskin: The toast of teenagers

The deafening sound of the firecrackers; the music blaring at full volume and the motorbikes honking to glory amidst a group of youngsters dancing on the street; at a first glance you would have thought this was just another wedding in the arena. Minutes later, though, a six-feet figure, with a sheepish smile, steps out of a car to the joy of the roaring crowd and reveals the true reason behind the emphatic celebrations.

Almost every cricketer from Bangladesh's World Cup squad received overwhelming response after returning to Dhaka. But few can beat the ovation that 19-year-old Taskin Ahmed got in the street right outside his house.

One of those boys even carried him up by the knees so that the entire neighbourhood could get a glimpse of their hero; it was their local boy after all and he had done them proud by claiming the most number of wickets for the Tigers.

"It was a completely different kind of feeling. I did expect some kind of a welcome but nothing of this sort. My friends and younger brothers in his neighbourhood really surprised me. I have never seen this kind of a response" Taskin, who had earlier posted a video of those festive moments on his facebook page, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"Believe me; I haven't managed to get a good night's sleep after I returned on Sunday. My friends have barely left me alone. They have been crazy! All of them! I did manage to sleep a bit late at night but then I get up early in the morning due to jetlag," a happily tired Taskin said yesterday.

And that was something that was clearly evident from the constant interruptions that the pacer had to deal with in between the interview. There were a few tricks that his friends didn't try. From making plenty of noise at the back to even answering a few questions for him, it was chaos; but at the same time revealed just what Taskin's achievement meant to them. It compelled the lanky bowler to apologise a number of times. As opposed to the joy of his friends though, Taskin wasn't satisfied with his performance in the mega event.

"I personally think that I could have done a lot better. If you ask me then I'll tell you that I am not happy. This is the first time that I played such a big tournament and there were so many big players here… hopefully I can do much better in the future," analysed Taskin.

While the bowler did manage to pick wickets, there were moments in the games which saw him go for plenty of runs. Against Sri Lanka, he gave away 82 runs while against India he was smacked for 69. However, the most impressive thing about the bowler was his ability to come back in the new spell and get those wickets that his team needed him to.

"The one thing that I learnt from the competition was that there is no room for any lose deliveries here. If you bowl a bad delivery you will get punished. So as a bowler one has to be very consistent," observed the 19-year-old.

It was quite odd, almost comical, to find Taskin trying to keep it all serious amidst all the hue and cry around him; he did however manage to state how keenly he awaited the Pakistan series before being picked on again.

While the series against Pakistan is still a month away, there's no doubt that Taskin will hope to continue the momentum he gained from the World Cup. However, until then he is likely to remain the toast of Bangladesh's teenagers.