The 36-year old stood out for Bangladesh in the tournament, especially his figures of 4-65 in the third game was significant but the veteran was not ready to focus only on individual performance rather he gave credits to all his teammates to lift the Bangladesh cricket to a different platform.

"Yes, my success in the two matches gave me self-confidence ahead of the Sri Lanka tour but I was not alone, my other colleagues also played good cricket in the tournament. Tamim (Iqbal) also impressed everybody with his brilliant batting in the Twenty20 match," the experienced campaigner observed.

Although there was much talks about how difficult to play in Sri Lanka, a straightforward Rafique found no reason why people are crying 'tough tour'.

"If you play at this level you are bound to play in Australia, New Zealand or any other place with tough condition. The condition in Sri Lanka is difficult but we have to face it. Rather than talking too much about conditions, it is wiser to focus on our own abilities," a simple response from the veteran who is just seven Test wickets shy from becoming the first Bangladeshi to claim hundred wickets in both forms of the game.

The leading Bangladesh wicket-taker was very much confident that this time his side will show much better performance than the previous occasions.

"A number of our cricketers represented the Asia XI because of our recent performance. Still we can't think about results in Test matches but we have the ability to impress everybody this time. All the players are in good touch but individually we should give our best. I think this is a much more confident side," he explained.

Rafique is also looking forward to bowl against the formidable Sri Lankan batting.

"Sri Lanka is a very good batting side and in good form currently. But I am looking forward to bowl there because Sri Lanka pitches always offer bounce, which helps me a lot. I never tried to do anything extraordinary, I just tried to concentrate on accuracy.

"I never feel any pressure which I think is the key behind my success," he declared.

Rafique informed that struggling India spinner Harbhajan Singh asked him for some suggestions during the Afro-Asia Cup.

"For the first time I got the opportunity to play with players from other countries in the same team. It was a fantastic experience. We got friendly treatment from all the players," he said.

He added that he had to give some tips to a number of Indian kids on request from Ravi Shashtri.

"Five or six boys convinced Ravi to get to me for tips. I told them that I have a very simple strategy. They even asked about my special delivery or the 'doosra'," said the wily spinner, who also expressed his satisfaction over getting this year's national sports award.