'I don't think about much more than cricket'
The Bangladesh allrounder is optimistic about his team's future, especially as strong hosts. He looks back at the Asia Cup performance and at his career so far
It is great, though it didn't seem so big at the time. But now that I think of it after a few days, this is a great achievement from a personal point of view. I think it is one of the best things I've done.
No, never. Sometimes I see someone bat or bowl on television but that's about it. I have not looked at another player with the purpose of wishing he fails.
It's not that I am not under pressure. I don't let anyone see that it's affecting me. Of course, I am under pressure in certain situations. I think for a big player, handling pressure is the biggest challenge. Whoever can handle pressure will be good in his career.
I don't think about anything else. (Smiles) There are moments, but since this is a good time, the thought process has been quite different. But there are times when there are no good thoughts, when a good word doesn't feel like it is worth hearing. I have crossed such a phase, so I understand what it is. I have been playing in the national team for five or six years now and I have seen a lot. So I know what is coming at me and I know how to handle it.
The last time I went to a shopping mall was before the World Cup. I don't think I have gone to such a place after that. I can only go to a restaurant.
I don't think it was difficult. There was a difficult time after I got into the national team but before that I didn't have to struggle at any stage.
I always think that if I had come directly from Magura, it would have been difficult, probably impossible to get this far. So BKSP was an important element for me. I think I learned 5-10% of the bad stuff but the 90-95% of the good stuff that I learnt from BKSP has really helped me in life.
No. (Laughs) Who knew this would happen? I do see the news and read newspapers, but never really went too deep into reading what is written in the sports pages. I don't think about such things. And to be honest, if the news is about me, what is the point of me reading it?
"When kids see me on the streets, they start screaming and shouting. I like such things but I don't like it when people surround me. If I'm going somewhere and someone says hi, I think that's fine"
I do react but in the dressing room. This was different. I was disappointed because I expected the team and those coming to watch us depended on me. The whole country was thinking that way, so I felt bad.
(Laughs) I have received 500-600 SMSes, so that's what the situation was after the final.
I start playing quite normally, according to whatever situation I'm facing. Even some of my team-mates tell each other, "He will get to 20 before we realise anything." I think I start well because maybe I pick a lot of singles. My strike rate is good, and with the odd boundary, it improves every ball. I play very few dot balls at the start.
I have found that I can bat normally at the start of the innings. Sometimes I can bat in this way, sometimes I am under pressure. It entirely depends on the situation I am in. But as I have said before, handling the pressure is the hallmark of a good player.
It is very important because without professionalism, becoming a proper cricketer is difficult. I got emotional one day, but after a day I changed. I have to change. The next match I play is a totally different ballgame to me. Such emotions do not matter. If I sit with that emotion, my life won't run in the right direction. I have to improve my game. I think all this falls under professionalism.
It has mainly happened by playing county cricket. In the IPL there is a lot more travelling and matches so it is difficult to get an opportunity to practise a particular area of your game. In county cricket you get to stay at one place for a while. There's a lot more opportunity to work on yourself. If I want to improve, there's a lot of scope in the county game. This is where professionalism kicks in: to bat an extra hour or to bowl or to do some extra work on the field. It depends on how honest I am with my work.
I don't think it is missing. I think I am the laziest person in the national team. Everyone else works harder than me.
Now I am very comfortable. A person learns from the mistakes he or she makes.
(Laughs) It's quite natural. An Indian TV channel, before the Bangladesh-India game, was saying India will score 450 runs and whatnot. That same channel says the opposite thing after the game. There's no doubt they are inconsistent. I think the journalists won't disagree with me. (Laughs)
Stay honest, disciplined and be fully determined to reach the target you want to achieve. A lot of difficult phases will come but stay determined. Sachin Tendulkar was saying in an interview after his 100th hundred that your dream will come true if you are single-minded about it.
(Laughs) The other day [after the game against Sri Lanka] there was a five-year-old girl who came near the dressing room and started making faces at me. I did the same to her, pulled faces. After the final, I saw her again. Her dad said jokingly that she wanted to propose to me. She got so shy. (Laughs) I told her, "Okay, I will propose to you."
When I was a kid I loved watching Saeed Anwar bat and Saqlain Mushtaq bowl. I liked Wasim Akram a lot, also liked watching Daniel Vettori and Rahul Dravid, and I liked [Shivnarine] Chanderpaul's approach. I pick the small things from everyone but there's no one in particular that I see as my hero.
There are several people who have had an impact on me. First of all, my family. When I got into the BKSP, I had to take a two-year break. In Bangladesh, such a break in education is totally unthinkable. "What will happen to the boy now? Will he get a job in the future?" That was a very natural concern for a middle-class family like ours.
My leadership was very good when it came to playing football and cricket. When we played football, I was the first to be called up so I had some kind of responsibility. I used to fix who would play where. It was the same in the cricket field. So it doesn't matter to me whether I am a captain or not. I used to set fields, decide who should bowl when and where someone should bat.
"I think I am the laziest person in the national team. Everyone else works harder than me"
I never thought of such things. When I played U-15 that was what I thought about, nothing else. It's the same now. After I got into the hotel, that's when I started thinking about the Asia Cup, not before. I don't set targets that are still far from me, because I know all this will come if I do the job at hand properly.
The county cricket [offer] hasn't been confirmed yet. I still don't know whether I will play even if I am fit. I haven't stopped for the last three years, so I think if I get 15-20 days to rest after the IPL, I will go and play in England after that. If they tell me to go the week after the IPL, I won't. That's what I have planned.
This [Asia Cup performance] has helped us set new goals. It is important that four or five people are performing. I feel at home we can handle teams a lot better.
Personally, I want to improve by finishing matches. My bowling isn't going that well. It's difficult to keep both going - batting and bowling. I feel it is hard to concentrate on both in training. I have seen that if I take one discipline and work on it, it gets better. But to work on both is a bit difficult. So you have to let one go at times. It is a problem at times [as an allrounder]. There's a lot of room to work hard. I told you, I am a lazy person.
If the IPL goes well, I would think it will be a good way to continue. I think it is possible to sustain. I have to play in this manner and stay fit.
Mohammad Isam is senior sports reporter at the Daily Star in Dhaka