Bangladesh Under-19 ace pacer Shoriful Islam has said they were eagerly waiting to meet India — a team against whom Bangladesh had suffered narrow defeats in the recent past.
Before Sunday’s World Cup final, Bangladesh had lost to India twice — once in the Asia Cup semi-final (in 2018) and the other in Asia Cup final (in 2019).
However, they managed to finally beat the Indian colts by three wickets (via DLS) at the Senwes Park on Sunday. Bangladesh chased down a revised target of 170 to win from 46 overs, after India were bowled out for 177.
In an interview with Bangladesh’s daily The Daily Star, Shoriful said: “Actually, we lost two close matches against them in the past. One was the Asia Cup semi-final (in 2018) and the other was a (Asia Cup) final (in 2019).
“I can’t describe what those defeats felt like. Before taking the field for the final, all I could think about was what they did after winning and how we felt after losing. So, we didn’t want things to turn out as they did before. We wanted to do our best and fight with all our strength till the last ball,” he added.
In the summit clash, Shoriful bowled with intent and aggression and picked up two wickets, giving away 31 runs in his 10 overs.
The left-handed pacer, while talking about his aggression which was on full display in the final, said: “We have seen in cricket that to play aggressive cricket, you have to do that and to make the batsmen angry or to induce something in him so that he wants to take me on and so that a wicket falls. When you start aggressively, the batsmen watching from the outside become very tentative.”
The 18-year-old further said that the team drew a lot of inspiration form the senior side.
“We learned everything from our elder brothers. We came this far by watching them play aggressively. If we didn’t see them, then we wouldn’t have been able to attain this success or win the World Cup.
“The feelings are that of winning a World Cup, be it for the U-19s or the national team,” he added.