That is why when the 33-year old Bangladesh skipper had expressed his hopes on Tuesday that the side would bounce back in the second game despite a heavy defeat in the first, many eyebrows were raised. Most of the doubters took his comments as customary, told time and again by the Tigers.

But in the end, Bashar had the last laugh as his team pulled off a four-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the second game to level the series 1-1. And he appeared at the post-match briefing with a mood that he had not come here just to tell the same old story.

"Yes, I am happy that it would not be the same story I have been telling for long. Believe me I am always confident with my team because I know my boys are capable to do anything," said an ever-smiling Bashar.

He, however, was not ready to think that their job was done in the series, rather he believed that the win gave them an opportunity to make the series against Sri Lanka an interesting one.

"We always go against Sri Lanka with the thought in the back of our minds that we are not good enough for them but surely the win has changed the mood. Why shall we not think about series triumph from here? I am confident of that," said Bashar, who dedicated their success to the language martyrs.

"Now our main challenge is to win matches on a regular basis. I must say our five-wicket victory against Australia in Cardiff is a memorable one in my life and I want to consider the victory against Sri Lanka as an important one. Because from now on you can't write that we have always played badly against this particular team. It means we have opened up a new chapter."

The Tigers skipper was all praise for his bowlers as he said that they had laid the foundation of the victory.

"Hats off to the bowlers. It was a tremendous effort. Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza and Syed Rasel exploited the early morning conditions with the new ball and then what Alok Kapali and Aftab Ahmed did was unbelievable. Their efforts helped us to restrict Sri Lanka to their lowest total against us. It was not an easy task to stop a batsman like Sanath Jayasuriya from playing shots," explained Bashar.

"Our ground fielding was brilliant and I want to give the credit to our local fielding coach Salahuddin who worked hard with the boys," he added.

Coach Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup triumph in 1996, was also excited.

"It is definitely very special to me. It is nice to beat Sri Lanka at last. I am happy to see that my boys have finally implemented our strategy in the middle. If we can continue this kind of attitude, we will win more matches," the Australian said.

Whatmore agreed that criticisms sometime gave his team the much-needed inspiration to come out of bad patches.

"Yes, sometimes it helps because the boys then realise that they should do something," he said.

Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody and skipper Mahela Jayawardene did not turn in the post-match briefing.