New Delhi: Bangladesh had won just two World Cup matches before the 2007 edition, but improved upon their performance with three victories in the West Indies with two of them being big upsets.
The young team will return home as an outfit that gained respect from their opponents for their gutsy performances. Continue reading below
"Yeah, we've had some good days, we've had some bad days. But it was a wonderful experience for us. But anyway, you hope that the experience we got from this World Cup is definitely going to help us in our next series," Bangladesh skipper Habibul Bashar said.
Bashar himself failed to impress with the bat throughout the tournament, but chose not to use the burden of captaincy as an excuse for his poor form.
"I should not give an excuse but, yes, when you are captaining a team you always have extra pressure. But you need to cope with it. All captains go through this kind of pressure but I don't make any excuse from that. Definitely, I didn't have a very good World Cup," Bashar said.
That they emerged the second-best side of the sub-continent after Sri Lanka was a matter of pride for the Bangladeshis who were not expected to go beyond the opening round.
Coach Dav Whatmore will, clearly, be missed as he has already decided to quit after the World Cup.
"Dav is very much respected by the players. If he says something, no one will argue with him. That's the kind of respect he always gets from the players. I think this is very important for a coach, that whatever he says players respect it. He always gives us a lot of confidence, a lot of respect to us. He was really wonderful for us the last four years," Bashar said.
Bangladesh finished seventh in the Super Eights, just above Ireland on net run rate, but they have exceeded expectations.
The assignment against India will be the team's last under Whatmore, and the team would surely like to give him a winning farewell.