"Bangladesh has the right combination" - Dav Whatmore

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore believes his Tigers can surprise the stronger teams in the super eight and has got bright future ahead. He expressed his satisfaction with the overall progress of the team leading to world cup and was in jubilant mood after Tigers world cup success. Bangladesh will be starting their second round campaign against Whatmore's home country Australia on 31 March at Antigua.

Before the start of the world cup, Whatmore termed his team as the "Surprise Packet" of the world cup and after defeating India and progressing to second round; Bangladesh is looking forward to make more surprises.

Whatmore is happy with the progress of his boys © Cricinfo

"It's a terrific combination, young boys are enjoying their game and are keen to produce more surprises in the super eight", said Whatmore pointing out the exuberance and fearless nature of his youth brigade in an interview with AFP. "We've got a couple of more experienced players, but the vast majority of them are under 25, which is absolutely perfect for an emerging team like us", Whatmore added.

Whatmore was particularly happy that his boys are getting opportunity to prove their worth against the top teams of the world. "They now have an absolutely wonderful opportunity to play against seven of the world's best sides and they will grow enormously because of that experience. I understand that we are still ranked number nine in the world and have a long way to go before we are consistently challenging the big boys".

"But we've got the resources and talent to really progress and we will be going to the Super Eights to really enjoy ourselves. And from a personal point of view it's great to be in a position where your team is playing well and your methods are being validated," said Whatmore who was the mentor of Sri Lankan resurgence 1996 world cup.

Whatmore also showed his satisfaction with the approach of Bangladesh team in the crucial match against Bermuda which they won by 7 wickets despite some early wobbling.

"I thought the last game against Bermuda was an extremely difficult one and the boys did brilliantly to keep their focus," said Whatmore. "I know we were only chasing a small total [96], but the ball was doing all sorts of things out there in the first ten overs, and it took a very brave batting performance from the middle order to get us through", he added.

"They've never really been in that situation before, with so much on the line and with so much to lose. This is very significant for us. It's something we always believed we could do if we played to the best of our ability and had a little bit of luck".

Within the super eights, Bangladesh was the first team to arrive in the Caribbean to play a tri-series involving Bermuda and Canada at Antigua. Whatmore believes this early arrival helped Bangladesh to understand the Caribbean condition and was crucial for their group stage success.