Shanto disagrees with coach Hathurusingha's comments, says the World Cup 'dream same as before'

On 27 March 2022, with the World Cup in India still more than a year-and-a-half away, former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said that Bangladesh would play in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup. After receiving the ODI captaincy, Tamim Iqbal said that if he is in the lead until the World Cup, he will go to play in the World Cup with the aim of becoming champions. According to the current captain Shakib Al Hasan, it is time to show how good Bangladesh have become over the last four years in the World Cup.

Many people, including some other cricketers of the Bangladesh team, have talked about the dream of winning the World Cup. But Chandika Hathurusingha, who is responsible for guiding Bangladesh cricketers, said in an interview a few days ago that those who dream of winning the World Cup should 'wake up'. Tamim expressed surprise after the second one-dayer against New Zealand with such comments from the head coach. Najmul Hossain Shanto, who will lead Bangladesh in the third ODI, did not agree with Hathurusingha's comments either.

Regarding the comments of the head coach, Tamim said, "I am also surprised to hear some comments. I think we should definitely dream of a World Cup. How will you achieve anything without having a dream? Even in the U-19 World Cup, we have never gone beyond the quarter-finals. They became champions because they had faith. If there is no dream of winning the World Cup, then the game has no meaning. This is our seventh World Cup, so when will we dream? It's not a guarantee that we will win it, but you have to have a dream."

Like Tamim, Shanto was informed about the comments made by the head coach at the press conference. The left-handed batter, who is going to lead Bangladesh for the first time, said that they have been dreaming about the World Cup as before. They want to show what Bangladesh has never been able to do in the World Cup. In Shanto's words, "we still share the same dream that we had before, he still have the same aim in the World Cup."

"Our players, when we started the ODI Super League, wanted to finish in the top four. We finished in the top three. Since then we have been dreaming that we will get good results in the World Cup, which we have never done. We believe we have that capability. We still have the same dream," added the left-handed top-order batter.