'We'll be up there with Kiwis'

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal did not train at the Sophia Gardens in Cardiff yesterday as he was rested to nurse a bruise on his right rib, which he sustained during his fabulous 95 against Australia at The Oval on Monday.

Instead, he was happily complying to a series of questions from the strong band of Bangladeshi reporters while others were enjoying their time out in the middle under glorious sunshine in the naughty English weather, which was very windy and cloudy just the other day.

Tamim was not part of the Bangladesh team that famously won against Australia in Cardiff in 2005, but his older brother Nafis Iqbal was the opening batsman of that team led by Habibul Bashar.

So the obvious question Tamim was confronted with was whether that victory would give them added inspiration going into their crucial game against New Zealand.

"There is a history in this ground. Our effort will be to keep that history. But to do that we will have to play good cricket. If we don't play good cricket, neither the history nor the ground will help us," said the opening batsman, who is still in pain both physically and mentally after that near-miss against Australia.

It is always challenging to score a century against Australia and for Tamim to come so close to that landmark only to be out for 95 -- a score on which he has been dismissed thrice in ODIs and once in a Test match -- was something very disappointing.

"Yes, I was disappointed. It could have been something very special to score a century against a quality attack and in these conditions. But I'm not that disappointed given the fact that I did not throw my wicket away like the previous four occasions. I was successful playing the same shots in the innings but unfortunately I top-edged it," said Tamim, who is perhaps in the best form of his career at the moment.

The leading scorer in the tournament so far with a magnificent 128 in the opening game against England, Tamim said that he would have loved to have back-to-back centuries.

"It would have been a personal achievement for me. But I think I would have been happier if my contributions had been for the winning cause of my team. I have scored 51 against India long ago and I was so happy that it won us the game in that [2007] World Cup match in Port of Spain," said the left-hander, who has been growing wiser and more mature with every passing innings.

"For the past two-and-a-half years I have been in good form. I'm focused on making those good starts count. I have had no problems with my technique. There are a few finer details I always work on. I have scored a few centuries over the last couple of years. But to be honest centuries are very special and the two innings I played against England and Australia will be very close to my heart.

"But you will also have to understand, hundreds will count for nothing if your team loses. There was a time when a century was regarded as very big, but now our effort is to win games. It is more satisfying for me if I score 70 and my team wins the game," the left-hander continued.

Asked how disappointed he was to miss a partner while batting against Australia he said: "I think Mushfiqur [Rahim] was a bit unlucky when we were building a partnership. Shakib [Al Hasan] was also unlucky and had he been around we could have pushed the total beyond 250 which could have been a competitive score."

When his attention was drawn to how scary it is for a batsman to bat with a fragile tail, Tamim said: "Their job is to bowl. But if they could add 15 runs it would ultimately contribute another 30 runs to the total which is very important. I think they also need [to pay] more attention to their batting."

Bangladesh lost their last four wickets for just one run after Tamim's dismissal against Australia. He hoped that the batting would come to the party against the Black Caps on Friday.

"We have played a lot of games against them. This is a team we always feel confident playing. They are a very good side. But we will be right up there with them," said an assertive Tamim.