Within Bangladesh’s Asia Cup roster, young talents steal the show.

Naved Newaz, the coach of Bangladesh Under-19 World Cup-winning team, is overjoyed to see some of his pupils advance to the senior level—five, to be exact—in the Asia Cup squad.

In their first 17-member squad for the forthcoming Asia Cup, Bangladesh selectors included four players of the Under-19 World Cup winning squad—Tawhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain, Shoriful Islam, and uncapped Tanzid Hasan Tamim—who won the trophy in South Africa back in 2020.

The number later increased to five when pace bowling all-rounder Tanzim Hasan Sakib was chosen to take pacer Ebadot Hossain’s spot after the latter was forced to withdraw from the competition owing to a knee ailment.

While Hridoy quickly established himself at the number four spot in both white-ball formats by exceptional results, Shoriful has already established himself over the past several months. From the World Cup-winning group, Shamim, who was one of the early picks for the T20I side, has just recently returned to the national team after a brief absence.

Uncapped Tamim Iqbal, who missed the competition owing to a back ailment, was replaced by Tanzid, who has recently gained notoriety. Many believe Tanzim has the potential to develop into an all-around pace bowler, and if that is the case, it would be advantageous for the club because the management is in desperate need of a down the order batsman who can bowl quickly.

When Bangladesh plays the host on August 31 at the Pallekele Stadium, Newaz, who serves as Sri Lanka’s assistant coach, will be in the tent to the opposite of the game.

Newaz told Cricbuzz, “I wish them the best and hope they will not do too well against Sri Lanka when we play them on the 31st. Although winning the trophy was a tremendous accomplishment, they still have a long way to go.

“Winning the Under-19 World Cup is a huge accomplishment because it’s the beginning of a challenge laid out for them. It will all depend on how they will cope with those challenges that international cricket presents to them, how they will sustain them, and how they will keep improving,” said Newaz.

“I am happy that I was a part of it, and as a coach and a mentor, happy to see people progress, you know it gives satisfaction for me and hopefully they will do well in international cricket and cope with the pressure of international cricket and keep learning about how they should go ahead and work ethics about how positively they meet the team requirements,” he continued.

The World Cup-winning U-19 team is already regarded as one of the best U-19 teams to date, and many have begun to compare them to the 2005 junior level golden generation team of Bangladesh, which included Tamim, Shakib al Hasan, and Mushfiqur Rahim. The trio quickly made their way into the senior squad.

Some players did occasionally join the national team after that 2005 Under-19 batch, but not in the same numbers as in more recent years.

The World Cup-winning team’s captain, Akbar Ali, told Cricbuzz that the team’s philosophy toward the game is its greatest asset since they don’t get overly dejected by poor performances or overjoyed after success.

“The most encouraging part about our class is that everyone is upbeat and doesn’t get down when they perform poorly or overly happy when they succeed. The 24-month scholarship offered by the board after they returned from the World Cup helped them immensely, said Akbar. “I think a lot of cricketers in our batch have this in their mental set-up that if you are doing badly you make sure not to get depressed too much because certainly when you are playing poorly you will feel bad but we just try to make sure that we are not getting into depression.”

Following their arrival from South Africa, BCB made the announcement that as a prize for winning the trophy, each player would receive BDT One Lakh for two years.

“That scholarship certainly came in handy at that time (when the world was under Corona attack), and BCB only said when we got home that they’d take care of everything and we should only concentrate on our game. They sent us this kind of message, Akbar claimed.

“I think that (financial support for two years) was a huge support for us because there were lots of uncertainties due to Corona, but we did not had to go through any tension at that point in time because we had the financial security that ultimately we will receive certain amount at the end of the month through which we can do everything,” he said.

In addition to these five cricketers, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mrittunjoy Chowdhury, and Parvez Hossain Emon, three players from the same group, have made their senior team debuts in various formats. The former has already appeared in nine Test matches for his nation. Shahadat Hossain was selected for the Test team but was unable to make his debut. However, given the way he is developing, it won’t be long before he is given a spot in longer-form cricket. Rakibul Hasan, a left-arm spinner, also made his mark at the just finished Emerging Asia Cup.

In addition to praising Newaz for his effort, Khaled Mahmud, the BCB’s game development chairman who was instrumental in the U-19 World Cup victory, noted that other cricketers from that batch are eagerly awaiting opportunities at the senior level.

“Former coach Naveed Nawaz did an excellent job, and we must give credit for what he did for that batch,” added Mahmud.

“They, in my opinion, are Bangladesh cricket’s future. Good players who aren’t currently on the team are also present. similar to Dipu, Akbar, and Emon, who have not yet joined the team. But they will eventually earn a spot on the national squad. The most important thing is that they are all well-established and successful (at a domestic level),” he said, adding that they are rewarded for placing a strong emphasis on development.

One thing is clear from the way Under-19 cricketers are emerging: the lads are suddenly maturing into men.