Blazing fireworks and Bangladesh’s top music bands dominate the celebratory reception for the Tigers at Manik Mia Avenue on Saturday.
The reception arranged by BCB took place to congratulate Bangladesh’s World Cup squad for their brilliant performance in Australia and New Zealand. Tigers arrived in a bus and took the stage from where they greeted the thousands of fans who showed up.
Thousands of fans attended the programme and cheered for the nation’s heroes as in the South Plaza arena of Shangshad Vaban. There were seating arrangements for three thousand people but the crowd was way more than that in number.
Rock bands Authohin, Nemesis and Cryptic Fate performed in the afternoon. Legendary pop-rock band Miles and age-old heavy metal band Warfaze performed in the evening.
The magnificent fireworks at the end of the celebrations lasted for over ten minutes. The atmosphere was as loud as it could get. Thunderous sounds and colorful lights with cheering of such huge crowd made the programme a memorable one for the Tigers.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith delivered a speech in the programme.
“Greetings for the Bangladesh cricket team. We have made an impression in the world arena and we have to take it higher,” said the minister.
Commentator and former cricketer of Bangladesh Athar Ali Khan called the cricketers over to the stage one by one and finally called Mashrafe Bin Mortaza on the stage. The crowd roared when the most successful Bangladesh captain went up to the stage and greeted everyone.
Sakib Al Hasan could not attend the programme as he is playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Sabbir Rahman could not attend for his father’s illness.
Mashrafe thanked the cricket board for arranging the programme.
“Thank you BCB. You gave me the responsibility to lead the team though I was injured. I was provided medical attention as soon as it was needed. I am happy that I led the team successfully in the world cup,” said Masharafe on stage.
Mashrafe waved at the huge crowded and thanked them for attending the programme.
“You have always been beside us, especially when the team had to go through bad days. We believe you will always be beside us in the future for better or for worse,” the captain said to the crowd.
Captain Mashfrafe even promised the ‘best’ in the upcoming Bangladesh-Pakistan series. He thanked the Prime Minister for regularly checking on the team while staying in Australia and New Zealand.
Source: Prothom-Alo