'Mushy can do even better'
The usually challenging task of identifying Bangladesh's outstanding sportsperson of the year was a much easier one this year. The Daily Star Sport team reached a unanimous decision that it should be Bangladesh's middle-order supremo Mushfiqur Rahim, who has left the rest behind in 2018, playing arguably Bangladesh's best knock of the year in each of the three formats. The Daily Star's Mazhar Uddin caught up with Mushfiqur's teammate Tamim Iqbal to get an insight into what has propelled Bangladesh's little big man to the next level. The following are excerpts from the interview:
On the mindset changes in Mushfiqur this year
Tamim Iqbal (TI): To be honest I have not seen any changes in Mushfiqur this year. Mushfiqur has changed over the past three-four years, especially since 2014. I have observed since then that he changed as a batsman and started to train differently. I was not surprised at all with the type of performance he had this year because he was among the top 10 batsman in world cricket in Tests last year and also the previous year. I am sure whatever he has achieved, somewhere in his heart he should be disappointed, because I believe and am sure he also believes that he could have done even better.
Watching Mushfiqur score 144 against Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup when Tamim came to bat with a fractured hand
TI: You have to be mentally very strong and skilful to play an innings like that. I think he should have gotten the credit I got. His performance was overshadowed because of the one ball I faced with one hand. The innings he played and the 32 runs he scored, knowing that there was no support at the other end, is something exceptional. I have seen a lot of Bangladeshi and international cricketers' innings live -- one of the best innings I have witnessed was Shakib Al Hasan's 97 against West Indies [in the first ODI in July] this year. That hundred from Mushfiqur will stand alongside Shakib's innings to me.
The competition within the team now that Mushfiqur is challenging for the 'best batsman' title generally reserved for Tamim
TI: To be honest it does not matter between us as we are all friends but I think there was never a big gap between me and Mushfiqur. Last year [2017] he had an incredible time in Tests while I had a good time in ODIs. Especially with Mushfiqur and Shakib, I always want to do better and I am sure they also want to do better than me. It's just professional hunger. There is obviously a competition among us about who will become the highest run getter for the year. We are not very vocal about it but in our hearts we always want to do our best.