Ever since his debut in international cricket, Mahmudullah Riyad has played a supporting cast most of the times. But suddenly he has shifted gears and grabbed the limelight with some outstanding knocks during this World Cup. How does it feel to be in the spotlight on the biggest stage? 

The soft-spoken individual responded with a shy-smile: "I never thought of grabbing spotlight. We all know Shakib (Al Hasan) is our best player. Mushfiqur (Rahim) has been playing good cricket consistently for long. Tamim played lot of good innings. Mashrafe (Bin Mortaza) has been leading our pace attack for so many years."

"Yes, I have had the desire and thought if I can be like them. Now I am happy that I am batting well and team also is doing well and that we have achieved something big."

Many of his teammates felt that one of the reasons he has been doing well is due to his wife and two-year son are travelling with him. "Yes, this is also a reason. I must thank the board for allowing my family to tour with me. I feel good because my family is with me. I feel too much homesick, especially when I am on tour. Initially my wife was not ready to come here but I told her, please come which help me lot and I also thank her."

Mahmudullah admitted he tried to cash in on the good form he was in: "Last night I was thinking that since I am in good shape, I should capitalise. I also saw bad time and that's why my aim was to capitalise the good time as much as possible."

"Today's condition was very tough. Bounce was different, ball swung with the pace but Soumya (Sarker) and I both were positive. We thought we should handle the good deliveries and wait for the bad ones. And I was a bit lucky too," he added.

"I didn't feel any nervousness or excitement. I was thinking whether I could do my job properly," he said. When his  attention was drawn to the praise by Sir Richard Hadllee, Riyad said: "It's always great to receive accolades from that kind of a legend. It definitely encourages me."

Looking ahead to the March 19 quarterfinal against India, Mahmudullah said that they are not bothered by the possibility of large number of Indian fans at the MCG. "No problem. Our fans will also be there. And we feel that 16 crore people are always with us whenever we play."

Replying to Shakib Al Hasan's hope that he could emulate Kumar Sangakkara in scoring four consecutive hundreds, having done so in domestic circuit, Mahmudullah said there was a big different between domestic and international cricket.

"It is very difficult to say anything about this right at this moment. Sangakkara is a class player and he did something which nobody dared to do."