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Old February 10, 2014, 11:01 AM
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Let'st take a walk down memory lane. This article was written in 2006 by Rabeed Imam for the upcoming BD U19 World Cup. Few excerpts here --


Mushfiqur Rahim: a Test debut at Lord's last summer, now captain of Bangladesh Under-19s © Getty Images


Quote:
Two of Bangladesh's most exciting young prospects were watching a Dhaka Premier Division league match in progress on the eve of the tri-nation Under-19 tournament final last month, when they were asked who, in their opinion, was the best U-19 side in the world at the moment. Sakib al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal took about half-a-second each to decide and then replied almost in the same breath: "I think we are."

The next day Sakib turned in an outstanding allround show while Tamim, an opening batsman, unleashed some trademark fierce shots as their side rolled past Sri Lanka in the final at the Bangladesh Institute of Sports (BKSP).
On Tamim
Quote:
Tamim is the younger brother of the Test opener, Nafis Iqbal, and comes from a cricket-oriented family...He bats left-handed unlike the others and to put it bluntly, he is a butcher with the willow and is probably the hardest and biggest hitter of the ball in domestic cricket...The happy-go-lucky teenager also reportedly has fans in Sri Lanka where he had toured with the High Performance squad last year. To call him exciting would be an understatement.
On Shakib
Quote:
While Tamim is the crowd-puller, the undoubted star of the team is another left-hander, Sakib. I had taken Wisden's youth special, where his name featured in the elite list of 21 to shape the future of world cricket, to the ground....He took three wickets with his left-arm spin, pulled off a run-out and a catch and then strode in imperiously with Bangladesh on 51 for 1 chasing 217. In his next 86 balls, he pulled, drove, cut, swept and cleared the fielders to notch up exactly 100, never looking in any hurry and departed four runs shy of victory. The boy who nonchalantly sings to himself before going out to bat is as natural as cricketers come and apparently doesn't need reminding what is expected of him..
Mushy and rest
Quote:
Despite Tamim and Sakib's presence, what makes this unit a formidable one is its balance. The calming influence in the team's top order is provided by Raqibul Hasan and Mehrab Hossain (Jr.) while Shamsur Rahman and the captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, the only player with Test experience in the side, are there to fall back on any time. There is no real tail with a host of allrounders battling for a promotion up the order. The pace bowling department is not the team's strength but both Dollar Mahmud and the left-armer, Kamrul Islam, have the pace to hurry opposing batsmen
http://www.espncricinfo.com/u19-worl...ry/233423.html
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Tamim, Shakib, and Mushy were seen as the future stars back then. I think these 3 have not only delivered but went beyond. They are now the absolute core of the team.
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