21 February - Cape Town - Bangladesh player Jahanara Alam post-match press conference
[Reporter]
I have a very basic question - you're a star bowler of Bangladesh. When you see two runouts, two stumpings and two catches being dropped. How do you motivate yourself to go back on your run up, come back and try to win matches - your views, very honest?
[Jahanara Alam]
Well, it's a very bad feeling. Not being a pace bowler, for me, it's for everyone, each and every one of us. All 11, they feel definitely hurt, especially who dropped those chances, who missed those stumping chances. So, I feel - everyone gets upset. But from that moment - you have to get back from there. Some positive feelings they have to think about and come back quickly. As soon as possible, you need to come back then you can motivate yourself and you can bowl next ball to batter. So that's how I think every player should think about. Yeah.
[Reporter]
What would you say your team has learnt from your outings at this World Cup especially compared to the previous tournament?
[Jahanara Alam]
Well, this is our fifth World cup, and I'm the proud member of these - I played all five. And, Alhamdulillah, I feel that this tournament has been different for us. We were so close, three matches. Except New Zealand match, Sri Lanka, Australia and today's match – South Africa. So, three matches were so close, maybe luck is not with us. So, hopefully next World Cup, inshallah luck will help us and definitely our game plan will be work out more, we’ll execute our plan perfectly inshallah, we’ll think about it. I think there are lots of things we can carry from here. And there will be so many matches coming up. So we'll apply those things.
[Reporter]
Do you feel it was the fielding that led you down today. I mean, other than maybe not having enough runs on the board - how much more do you think you needed?
[Jahanara Alam]
Yeah, definitely, but I think we were maybe 20 to 25 runs short. If we could add those runs on the scoreboard then it could be a different game, maybe. And after that, we bowled really, we attacked really well – as you can see last 5 overs, they needed 31 runs. So, yeah, it was close till 18 overs. Well, again, I have to say that it was luck - because, as you can see that South Africa made mistakes in fielding, so it all happens in cricket. So, yeah, it's all about luck.
[Reporter]
Did you feel South Africa were nervous in front of quite a big crowd?
[Jahanara Alam]
Oh, well, it was not about the crowd, I think today's match was very important match for them because a win would have taken them to the semi-final. So, they were at do or die. And for us it was like, if we win that will be something we can bring out from here to home. So, well, we had nothing to lose. But in this case, I can say we had a lot of things, a lot of positive things we can bring in from. And yeah, they were - I cannot say that they were nervous but they were a bit something different. They want to win hard and slowly yeah.
[Reporter]
Is it is it frustrating that the same teams seem to succeed every time in this tournament? We have Australia's streets ahead of anyone else and then England and, you know, seems like that always seem to succeed and other teams don't, that must be difficult to accept as a player from another team?
[Jahanara Alam]
Well, in one point you were right - at some other point I would say, look, there is difficulty sometimes because of the experience. Yes, you might play five World Cup, but there were not so many chances to play so many matches like England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, even India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan. So, we hadn't much more opportunities to play against any team. So, we had just few games to play. And after that every after two years we get an opportunity to play World Cup like this stage. So yeah, I would say, from after this time, you'd see that there will be some different scenario, because we are going to be under FTP, there will be so many matches for us waiting. So, I can say that there will be more opportunities, we’ll get more experience, how to handle the situation - as I mentioned that three match were so closed. So, if we were much experienced, then it could be a different. Still, I can say we do have a definitely good batters, they are developing their skill. And also, we have got good bowlers as well. Sometimes fielding can be mistakes. So yeah, it is okay, but after this World Cup, you will see the different scenario inshallah.
[Reporter]
Yes. In 5 World Cups, 19 losses, T20. When you go back to the dressing room, how do you motivate the youngsters who's looking up to you guys? And suddenly when he sees or she sees a string of losses, including this one, how do you motivate the ones? Or do you first gather yourselves back the senior ones?
[Jahanara Alam]
Well, for me personally, I always think myself like, that's okay, whatever happened - happened. Let's forget about everything. Let's think about future, which game coming up. Let's be prepared for that. So, for me, I always counselling myself. And there are a few juniors, most of their senior player, they are playing almost 10 to 15 years. I'm also playing 10 to 15 years - over. Few youngers, we always used to tell them that don't be worried. There are long future for you. And this can be happen anytime. This is cricket. So, don't think too much. Forget about everything. Forget about mistakes. Learn from there and grab those positive things and bring it to your next game.
[Reporter]
Do we see some changes in the next 12 months? Considering you have good youngsters in the team, time for the seniors to move on?
[Jahanara Alam]
I can see, I can see. You mentioned Marufa is there, Shorna is there, and our under-19 captain Disha is there. She doesn't get chance to play even one match. So, she has a young talent also. I think we have a future, but we need to change ourselves first. Being honest, we need to change ourselves. We have to be motivated. We have to move forward with positive intent. Then only we can win the match. There is no lack of game plan. There is no lack of skill. There is no lack of anything. So, I would mention that we have to change ourselves. That's it.
[Reporter]
Bangladesh is going to host the Women's World Cup in 2024. And in this tournament, we saw some standout young performers from the Bangladesh team who also did well in U-19. Marufa Akhtar is one of them. As you are also a fast bowler, what is so special and what special qualities do you see in these young fast bowlers? Because she has done well against Australia, she has done fairly well in most of the group-stage fixtures. Can you say something about her future, especially, keeping in mind that next year, Bangladesh is hosting the World Cup?
[Jahanara Alam]
Thank you. As the 2024 World Cup is going to be hosted by our country and our country's wickets are different. South Africa's wicket are different. So, from that sense, we were so hopeful. Many of us expected that the pacers will do something here. And Marufa has done that after getting some opportunities. Marufa had some practices as well because she also played in the U-19 World Cup here about a month ago. So, Marufa has very good quality. The most important thing is that she has a natural in-swing which helps her to control even very good batters. So, I think Marufa is becoming a pipeline pace bowler for the Bangladesh team and she is only 18. So, I believe that she will support Bangladesh for a long time if God wills. And since the tournament is going to be held in our country, we will definitely try to take good preparation. Even though Bangladesh is not a good place for pace bowling, we will try to keep in mind that the pace bowling unit can also support the team along with the spin.
[Reporter]
Last question. What are the areas of improvement that you would like to see as a senior player who has played 5 World Cups? In the next 12 months, what improvements do you think Bangladesh can do in order to go to the semi-final position in their own Home World Cup?
[Jahanara Alam]
First of all, I would like to say that we'll have to have positive intent. We have a lot of skills. We have enough experience from the matches that we have played. So, our skills are also good enough. We have good game planning. We are able to execute well. Overall, I think we have a little lack of positive intent. So, I think we have to improve that mentally. Then I think we will be able to take control over match by match and if God wills also win them.