Shahriar Nafees believes the 2006 U-19 World Cup team was better

Bangladesh former national cricket team captain Roqibul Hasan and national team player Shahriar Nafees believe that Bangladesh U-19 can get a positive result in the ICC Under-19 World Cup final against India U-19.

"Bangladesh are a team that have the capacity to become champions and the best two teams have reached the final. They have played fearless cricket, and they have played with a lot of confidence and focus. I have not noticed them playing under much pressure and that has been evident in their fielding, which has been excellent. If the team can put forward their best effort in the final then we can expect something positive," Roqibul Hasan told The Business Standard.

Nafees, however, did admit that defending champions India would start off as favourites with the way they have played in the tournament so far.

"If the team can play the way they did in the last two games, they will always have a chance. But having said that, India are the strongest team in the tournament from all three departments. India are the favourites no doubt, but we will have a chance," Shahriar Nafees said to The Business Standard.

Reaching the final of the World Cup has so far been the best result for Bangladesh U-19 in its history but Roqibul and Nafees had differing opinions as to whether this was the best Bangladesh team ever to play the U-19 World Cup.

"The team this time is very organised and there is a lot of balance and experience as a lot of them have played in the Dhaka Premier League too so I think this is the best team we have had here," said Roqibul.

"This is the best result we have achieved in the U-19 World Cup but the best team, in my opinion, was the 2006 team that had the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. Almost the whole team managed to make it to the national squad and the team in 2004 was also very good and almost 90 per cent of the players from there managed to make it to the national team. So the 2004 and 2006 sides would be the more talented teams but this one has achieved the better results, explained Nafees.

Both Nafees and Roqibul warned against putting the players into the national side too early but they did believe a lot of the players would make it to the national team fold if they continued to do well.

"There are some very good prospects such as Shariful Islam, Akbar Ali and Towhid Hridoy. I don't want to pick out any individuals because this is a very good team. The players need to be groomed from here and the selectors need to be careful to not push them into the national team too early," explained Roqibul.   

"For me, the best player in the team has to be Towhid Hridoy but the other player that has impressed me is Rakibul Hasan with his left-arm off-spin," Nafees concluded.