‘Want to do well as a team and as a player’

It was a relaxed day for the Tigers after the five-wicket win in the practice game against the Sri Lankan Board President's XI on Tuesday as the members of the Bangladesh team spent most of yesterday at the gym and swimming pool of the Taj Samudra Hotel in Colombo. Stand-in captain Tamim Iqbal was seen roaming around the hotel lobby and The Daily Star's Mazhar Uddin, along with two other reporters, caught up with the dashing opener for an interview. Tamim spoke about the new captaincy role and the expectations from the three-ODI series against Sri Lanka.The following are the excerpts of the interview:

The Daily Star (TDS): What does the captaincy of the national team mean for you?

Tamim Iqbal (TI): Responsibility…  captaincy is such a thing that I never thought of as I did not have much interest over the captaincy since childhood. I might have done the captaincy during the BPL, but during the Under-19 days I never thought that I would become captain. I have been given the responsibility as regular captain Mashrafe [Bin Mortaza] bhai is injured while vice-captain Shakib [Al Hasan] is not available for personal reasons. I have been playing for the national team for over 12 years now and as the board has given me the responsibility in their absence, I should take that. I will try to give my best despite it being for a short time. I don't know about my future in this but I want to give it my best shot.

TDS: You led the side once in the past during the Christchurch Test back in 2017 against New Zealand. What is the difference between then and now?

TI: There is a difference as I was not the captain of the team on that tour. Regular captain Mushfiqur Rahim was injured and I had to lead the side for the second Test. This time I knew that I am going to lead the side and had five to six days to think about it.

TDS: As regular captain Mashrafe is on the verge of retirement, do you think this Sri Lanka tour will be an audition for you to become the next captain?

TI: Not at all. Mashrafe bhai is still my captain as he is yet to retire from cricket and after his retirement there is regular vice-captain Shakib Al Hasan. The board will decide who will be the next captain of the team and I don't want to say that I would want to do the captaincy…  or not at the moment. As I have been given the responsibility for these three games, I want to fulfil that by giving my best.

TDS: What happens to you in the World Cup as a batsman? You have scored just 718 runs in 29 World Cup games. Do you feel unfortunate when it comes to World Cups?

TI: I don't want to give myself that tag as it will sound like an excuse. I am ready to admit when I fail…  I might have taken extra pressure on myself that I would just have to do well. There was no problem in my processes as my form was good. I opted to skip the Dhaka Premier League and sacrificed a huge amount of money to work on my fitness. But things got clumsy as I wanted to do very well in the World Cup.

TDS: Just wanted to remind you that you have scored centuries in the first games of the Sri Lanka tour in 2013 and 2017. Does that work as inspiration for this time?

TI: I hope this time it will be the third one (smiling). I like remembering stats but I don't think that it guarantees that I will do well next time. I don't think I need to change my technique as I scored runs in the last four years with the same technique. I have the belief and I don't want to break that process. I am hoping that both as a team and as a player we will be able to do well in Sri Lanka.