Players will carry the burden of expectations, says returning Bangladesh U19 coach Nawaz

Naveed Nawaz, the head coach who led Bangladesh to victory in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, said on Monday that he isn't losing sleep over expectations as he prepares to return to his former role ahead of the upcoming age-level global tournament in 2026.

"This expectation is on the players as well in a country like Bangladesh, where people are almost crazy about cricket. They love the game so much. Players will carry the burden of expectations," said Nawaz, who replaced Stuart Law as the Under-19 head coach after the latter's contract was not renewed by the board.

"Coming back to Bangladesh after winning the [Under-19] World Cup in 2020, obviously there will be expectations, but I think I have to focus on other things. It has been four years since winning the World Cup. There's a lot of work to be done."

Speaking on the road ahead, Nawaz said that he'll once again try to create a "happy environment" and equip the players to be able to make the best decisions for themselves.

"As always, the BCB has laid down a brilliant programme like in the past. We will put our shared experience, we will cover every base that this group of boys will face in the next two years. We want to give them as much experience as possible. Give them the confidence, help them grow. Players are the main carriers of this game. We must create a happy environment for the players. They have to make decisions independently. Coaches will help them make better decisions in the future. That's what we did four years ago. It produced results for us. The basics haven't changed yet.

"The plan is very simple for the next two years," Nawaz added. "We know what type of cricket the U-19 boys play all over the world. There's been a lot of visibility. My first job would be to sit with the selectors, to see what are the [pieces of the] puzzles that match. What type of talent do we have to make a great team, that can win.

"We want to understand the talent from worldwide and try to put in all the benchmarks in our players and try to reach it in two years. That's what we did before. We want to build a team in two years that can compare with any other country without any fear."

Nawaz, who worked as the assistant coach of Sri Lanka before returning to Bangladesh, said that teenagers cannot be superstars overnight and it takes a lot of time and effort to become a successful player at the senior level.

"We unearth a lot of talent in age-group cricket in countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. International cricket is so challenging that even if you are very talented at the ages of 18, 19 or 20, it doesn't tell the story that you are going to be a superstar by the age of 25 or 30. Cricket is a lot more analytical than before, oppositions find you out very quickly," said Nawaz.

"It is about the players being able to work their way out, to understand and rectify their game. You can't be holding a technical or mental issue for too long. You have to get over it. BCB will look into it in the High Performance or higher age-group programmes where you give the players confidence to perform at higher stages.

"Players will come and go. Even in 2020, there were a lot of players and great example is Rishad Hossain who couldn't make the 15 for the World Cup but look at him now. It's important that U-19 is running well but it's also important that we look after the bigger group of our players as well," he added.