Jannatul Naym Pieal Sabbir Rahman, the blue-eyed batting sensation of
Bangladesh cricket, who is mostly known for his aggressive attitude on the pitch and tendency to finish off the match right from the middle, on Monday revealed he was inspired by the suggestion of
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who advised him to keep playing fearless cricket during the series between Bangladesh and India. The hard-hitter said he wanted to be a finisher and a bold approach in batting could help express him more in his batting order. "That’s a great achievement for me to talk to Dhoni and receive his suggestion. I also talked to him in Melbourne. His advice was same as he wanted me to continue my fearless cricket and express me more," Sabbir told the reporters at Mirpur's 'Home of Cricket' on the first day of Tigers' conditioning camp ahead of the month-long bilateral series against
South Africa, which will kick off from July 5. "He also told me to finish the match, playing fearless cricket. His advice inspired me very much," Sabbir continued sharing his bit of experience with India's 'Captain Cool'. The right-hander bats at six or seven, which is crucial for providing impetus in any game and during the recent World Cup and two home series against
Pakistan and India Sabbir showed he has enough of it. Sabbir might have already shown his worth batting at number six and his aggressive brand of cricket eased the pressure while either his team is chasing or setting a target. He however revealed his own plan and said that he has set the goal for him to play ball-to-ball and move forward match by match in the upcoming full series against the Proteas. "I have set no individual target as I don't perform setting target. But my target is to play ball-to-ball and move forward match by match in the series. I will try to play as per the plan," revealed Sabbir. "I always try to finish the match that is actually my role for the team. I make an effort to do it. On way to do it I can do wrong. But I will try my best to minimize the mistakes." The new batting sensation of the red and green side disclosed that they will soon find out the weak points of the South African bowlers and batsmen and will then set their plan to get hold of them. "Actually we haven't yet to devised any game plan ahead of the series. We have just started our practice for the series. We will soon sort out their weakness and strong points then we will formulate our game plan. We will bowl against their batsmen and bat against their bowlers as per the game plan," Sabbir informed. The 24-year-old willower and part-time spinner said he is hopeful about the good output from the series and said, "The confidence level within the team is in good shape after the success of the just concluded series against India. Hopefully we could pass another good series." Asked if the Tigers have come out with any new strategy during the practice session on to how they could handle the South African fiercest pace bowling attack properly, the all-rounder said it's totally upto the team management who haven't formulated any game plan regarding this yet but also opined that they will definitely make their best of efforts to face the South African attack. "We are yet to get any suggestion or plan from the team management. The visiting side played in Asian condition. Hopefully we will stress on spin. Even, we’re making our habituation on upper-level shots like pull, square-cut to face their bowlers. We’ll try to do something better." Sabbir hoped that the Tigers will maintain their recent success against South Africa. His team-mate and also the world's leading all-rounder in all format of the game, Shakib al Hasan termed Tigers as favourites prior to the Pakistan series and proved his word by clean sweeping the former World Cup champion. But the right-hander chooses more diplomatic words about the series against the Proteas. "I cannot tell anything about favourites, we have a confident side and we will try our best. Let us see what happen," said Sabbir, who have been averaging over 30 and maintaining a strike rate of over 100 in both ODI and Twenty20 internationals till now. The series will start with the first Twenty20 on July 5, the day when the new regulations of International Cricket Council (ICC) will be imposed on ODIs and Twenty20s. The new rules are supposed to favour the bowlers bringing a kind balance between ball and bat which was lost with the previous rules in place. On a question to whether or not the new rules for ODIs and T20s introduced by the International Cricket Council will be helpful for the Tigers, Sabbir responded in a diplomatic way, saying it will have a mixed impact on the players as some will be benefited from the rules while others will have to become the sufferers. "I do not know much about it [regulation changes]. It may turn out to favour the bowlers more and prove to be bad for the batsmen, but there will be both positives and negatives," said the latest 'finisher' of Bangladesh cricket. Sabbir was also quite vocal against some of the abusive Facebook fans fans for making obscene comment on cricketer
Nasir Hossain’s selfie with his sister on his Facebook fan page. However on the question to if the social networking sites are making bad effects on the lifestyle and motivation of the cricketers, Sabbir was quite a philosophical in saying like everything in life, it also has some good as well as some bad affects. But then again the young cricketer had some requests for the fans to put on. "It (use of social networking sites) has both positive and negative affects. Nasir uploaded a picture with his sister or cousin. But some fans make bad comments regarding the picture. We all have a good number of fans in fanpage on Facebook. I request them all that we can help each other. We should make good and inspiring comments. I think it is better to not attack anyone personally."