Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon has praised the youngsters of the team for their good performances in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Bangladesh had an average T20 World Cup this year which ended some days on June 29. They crossed the group-stage easily beating Sri Lanka, Nepal and Netherlands but lost all the matches in the Super Eight stage against Australia, India and Afghanistan. Bangladesh had the opportunity to reach the semifinals even at their last match against Afghanistan but they failed.

Papon praises Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Rishad Hossain especially. Rishad was the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 14 wickets in 7 matches while Tanzim Sakib took 11 wickets in the same amount of matches.

While others went through ups and downs with the bat, Towhid Hridoy shone with the bat. He was Bangladesh’s highest run-scorer in the tournament with 153 runs.

Facing the media after the Board Meeting on Tuesday (July 2), Papon said, 'Of course we are happy to see the game in the first round. Any team would have lost to any team in these conditions. I'm sure the other teams that played were also unexpected. We are happy from this point of view.'

Asked whether he was satisfied with the World Cup performance, Papon said, “To talk about performance, the background that we needed, that was not done. It would have been better if we had received the reports of the captain, coach, team management, so we could have given a better answer.

“If I just talk about it now, there will be a lot of misunderstandings. So let me give a little background. This World Cup was different for us. This was the first time we took a big risk. The risk was that this was the first time we sent 5 cricketers who were almost new in terms of experience. We sent 4 all-rounders who were experienced. Tanzid Tamim, Tanzim Sakib, Towhid Hridoy, Rishad, Anik. A tournament like the World Cup, that too T20, in which we were sending a team like this consisting of five new boys, this is number one. It was a very risky decision.

“We trusted the veterans we were sending with them. For example, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah Riyad, Litton Das, Shanto were there, they would provide enough cover. We were a little afraid regarding this. Another fear was that in the group in which we were in, there were 2 teams that were very strong. We thought we might not be able to fight against South Africa. And it would be difficult, fifty-fifty against Sri Lanka, either we could win or we lose.

“One thing we knew, we would play Rishad no matter what. We had no idea what Rishad would do at the international level. Tanzim Sakib was not in our thoughts for playing XI. Since Shoriful got injured, he got a chance in a match [against Sri Lanka], then he played all the matches because his performance was good.

“I thought it was the risky decision to take these new guys, they couldn't do anything significant and our senior players would do well. But it was the opposite. We did not get anything that was expected from the seniors. But some of the new boys played well. Towhid Hridoy played great. Hridoy and Tanzid Tamim are not that much new. Even then I would say they had very little experience for T20 World Cup. We like the performances of Rishad, Hridoy, Tanzim Shakib. They did better than expected.”

Papon praised Rishad separately, “I didn't think about Rishad in particular. We neither play nor get good leg spinners. He went and played the World Cup. He went there and made his name in the ICC.”