Bangladesh skipper unfazed by pressure from people back home

Georgetown, Guyana: Here is a captain who welcomes pressure from his fans. Habibul Bashar, the Bangladesh skipper does not seem to be bothered by the pressures from his people back home.

Many college students in Dhaka had burned Bashar's effigy after Bangladesh lost the first two matches of the Super Eight stage.

Sounding very optimistic, the skipper remarked, "We want people to have expectations about us and are enjoying the pressure from them. It is a positive development."

Until this World Cup, fans in Bangladesh never reacted to any of their performances.

Their performance was never talked about since they were hardly in any position to put up a fight against the big teams. But everything changed after they beat India.

"It is good to know that people now have expectations about us. We did lose in the Super Eight stage since we were up against very strong teams. But we will still try our best to play good cricket. Our team is not a side that will fall due to pressure from the fans," he added.

Bashar believes that his team can play better.

"We need to keep wickets in hand if we are batting first. If we bowl first, then we will aim to strike early."

The skipper also talked about their coach Dav Whatmore.

"Whatmore did not give us any impression that he is leaving us. He has been focusing on my players and that is what is important for us at the moment. We are all professional players and will not be affected by the news.

"It is purely Whatmore's decision whether he wants to join the Indian team as a coach. As far as we are concerned we are focused on the game now."