Shamim braces for T20 World Cup challenge

Bangladesh's young batsman Shamim Patwari braced for the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup challenge, stating that he is ready to live up to the expectation by demonstrating good batting in the cricket's biggest stage.

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Shamim made a smooth transition to cement his place in the senior side just after he became the part of the Under-19 World Cup winning squad last year. He drew the attention for his free-flowing batting lower down the order, something which the Bangladesh team management was searching in this shortest format of cricket. In addition, his electrifying fielding was helpful for the team to save some valuable runs.

"It's [the World Cup] a big stage and here there will be many world class players. So I think it will be a big challenge for me to thrive there," Shamim Patwari said while talking to the reporters here today. "I was the part of the Under-19 World Cup winning squad. Here it is the main World Cup. I am hopeful to bring a good result."

Shamim was drafted in the side for the first time during Bangladesh's T20I series in Zimbabwe. His exploits in the Dhaka Premier League T20 tournament was key in including him in the team. Bangladesh won the T20I series away to Zimbabwe 2-1 before their first ever T20 series win against Australia and New Zealand at home.

After being included into the side, Shamim Patwari is yet to taste any series defeat for which he felt himself lucky.

"I consider myself very lucky that after I came in, we won three series. So, we are very hopeful of doing well in the World Cup," he said.

Shamim played just one game in the five-match New Zealand series where batsmen faced difficulties to score runs due to the slower nature of the wicket. The youngster said that the team's seniors will be in better shape batting wise during the World Cup.

"Wicket can do you a lot of favours. As you have seen, the wicket here was different and we couldn't score fluently. But normally World Cup wickets are good. Given the senior players we have, I am quite hopeful they will do very well. Our main batsmen were not successful here and I think they will do well there," he opined.

He further said that he got the support from the team's senior players including the T20 captain Mahmudullah Riyad.

"I came from Under-19 team. There are definitely some difference in playing in Under-19 team and national team. But the senior players helped me a lot. The captain always backed me," he said.