Dhaka: Thousands of cricket lovers of the country on Sunday heartily received the Tigers after they returned home fulfilling the dream of playing in the quarter-final of the World Cup. 

Bangladesh could go ahead further but the ‘disputed’ umpiring in the quarter-final brought a sad end to the journey of the tigers.

‘It’s a great achievement for us to play in the quarter-final. Also it’s a matter of regret that we could not play in the semi-final. We tried our best. Players gave their hundred percent effort’ said tiger skipper Mashrafe Mortaza after arriving at the Dhaka airport.

Bangladesh cricket team left the country on 24 January to participate in the World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

This is the first time Tigers reached the World Cup quarter-final. In 2007, they played in the Super-8 round. Tigers’ brilliant performance in this World Cup indicates the glittery future of Bangladesh cricket.

Bangladesh started their journey beating Afghanistan on 18 February. The match against Australia was abandoned due to rain. They lost the match against Sri Lanka by 92 runs. But the hope of quarter-final revived after Bangladesh defeated Scotland chasing 318 runs.

Tigers secured the quarter-final defeating England by 15 runs in the next match.

Bangladesh lost the last match of the group round against New Zealand by three wickets after a hard fight.

Mahmudullah, who hit back-to-back centuries, emerged as the first Bangladeshi to hit century in World Cup. Youngsters like Taskin Ahmed, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman have aroused the hope of golden future with their performance.