“Was too busy watching Sachin, Ganguly”, says Tamim Iqbal on the 2007 WC match against India 

Bangladesh’s newly appointed ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal has recalled the 2007 World Cup match against India, saying that he was too busy observing the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly.

In the game, Bangladesh beat India and Iqbal played a key role with a knock of 51 runs off just 53 balls.

"The moment I was playing the World Cup 2007 match against India, I was too busy watching Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. I was just watching them. I was too happy to be playing in the presence of these legends," Tamim Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

Tamim Iqbal felt intimidated by Zaheer Khan

Tamim Iqbal said Bangladesh knew they had a chance after they bowled out India for 190 runs, and that the prospect of facing Zaheer Khan had intimidated him.

"When they scored 190, we knew we had a chance. I went to bat and I faced Zaheer Khan. I thought to myself will I be able to face a bowler who bowls at 140 kmph; the first ball he bowled, somehow I managed to defend that; next ball I smashed for four and from there I got some confidence," Tamim Iqbal said.

The 2007 Cricket World Cup was hosted by the West Indies. Despite having some of the best players in the world in their ranks, India failed to make it past the group stage. Besides Bangladesh, they lost to Sri Lanka as well. The eventual winners of the Cup were Australia.

Tamim Iqbal has so far played 60 Tests, 207 ODIs and 78 T20IS for Bangladesh and was appointed the skipper of the ODI side earlier this year as Mashrafe Mortaza stepped down from the role.