Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes insisted that clinching their maiden multi-nation tournament in Ireland indicates the depth of their strength as they achieved the feat on the back players outside of their most experienced five, reports Cricbuzz.
Bangladesh have shown tremendous growth in the ODI format for quite some time and that is considered largely due to the contribution of the five seniors - Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah.
However, their maiden multi-nation ODI championship in Ireland was earned by the cricketers of the future.
Rhodes feels that winning the trophy despite the absence of Shakib, who was rested due to side-strain, and through the performances of the younger players prove that Bangladesh aren't a five-man army.
"This was quite an amazing chase today because it was tough and there have been two or three guys who have played special innings," said Rhodes.
"What it does today, if you think of Mosaddek for example, he is a guy now who is going to keep everybody on his toes. That's the depth of the squad and he might not play and if he doesn't then what a great position we have. Some other good players playing, what it does give is, it gives us the confidence that we can win some big games as well," he said.
"That means Bangladesh are stronger within the squad and that's what we want as we want more depth and if we get that depth then people will stop talking about the big five," he said.
"We are not including the guy [Jayed] who has got five wickets and it is obviously hard for him and that means the guys who are in that squad are excellent players. And he takes that sort of thing on his chin like most of the squad do. They realise we are a squad, not just the team of eleven or individuals. They understand that sometimes they have to make way because there are some other good players playing," he said.
Rhodes added that Bangladesh need to show more patience with cricketers like Soumya Sarkar.
"First of all with Soumya, he has been a revolution since he hit that hundred and double hundred in the DPL, but he also gets some rough days from people because he is a type of guy when he is inform he is really hot," said Rhodes.
"So, it's just nice to see him carrying on that form and I hope people would get off his back a little bit because he is a wonderful player. We support him and back him. But not everyone always does that," he added.
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