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Ashraful relishing captaincy

Sports Reporter
Cricket
Bangladesh batting sensation Mohammad Ashraful is looking forward to his first stint as captain at any level when he leads a Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) Eleven in the Duleep Trophy in India.
A 14-member strong Bangladesh selection led by the gifted middle order batsman will leave today to take part in India's first-class competition for the first time.
"I did not expect the job (captaincy) to come my way so early but I'm ready to accept the challenge. I've never captained any side at any level in my career but I'm lucky that I'm going to lead a very strong side in an important tournament," said 20-year-old Ashraful after the squad's final training session at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
For Ashraful, performance is key to becoming a good captain besides having good knowledge of the game.
"It is my opinion that you have to lead the team from the front in order to become an able leader. I'm aware that I haven't made scores consistently enough and got out at wrong times. So, my first challenge will be to concentrate on my own batting," said the young player, who admires New Zealand's Stephen Fleming's style of leadership.
Ashraful, one of the senior members of the Bangladesh team, however, said that he was very optimistic about the upcoming trip.
"We'll face a tough challenge in the tournament but I think our team is confident to face it. Actually, the recent performance against Zimbabwe on home soil has changed the whole scenario. You see the visiting Bangladesh A team was also boosted by the success. I learnt a valuable lesson from that series and was having the belief that w e
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could win a match," said a confident Ashraful.
The right-hander was equally aware of the fact that he would be closely followed by the Indian media in the wake of his magnificent 158 in the second Test against India in Chittagong.
"An leading English newspaper has already contacted me for an interview but I'm mature enough to know how to handle that kind of pressure," smiled the talented batsman.
The BCB XI start their campaign against East Zone at Jaipur on February 25. Then they take on Central Zone at Jaipur from March 1.
Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is expected to lead the East Zone, who have already lost to Central Zone in the first round, against BCB XI.
SQUAD
Al Shahriar, Rajin Saleh, Nafees Iqbal, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Alok Kapali, Manzarul Islam Rana, Sahagir Hossain Pavel (wicketkeeper), Abdur Razzak, Sabbir Hossain, Talha Jubair, Nazmul Hossain, Mohammad Shahajada and Anwar Hossain Munir.