Mustafizur Rahman: A star under construction

Bangladesh for the first time in the history of cricket has won a bilateral One-Day International (ODI) series against India and the pivotal reasons behind their success was the talented 19 year-old left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman. He not only claimed five wicket-hauls in his first two ODIs but also became the first bowler to have 11 wickets in his first two ODIs. In the third game, he also equalled Harris’ record of claiming 13 wickets in three consecutive ODIs.

Bangladesh over the years has heavily banked on their spinners but with addition of Mustafizur their pace attack now looks formidable and inspires confidence. In a side which boasts of talents like Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed and Al-Amin Hossain, it’s never an easy task to make way to the playing eleven. By his teammates admission that Rahman was beginning to be unplayable in the nets and thus handed his maiden international cap last Friday. The teenager from Satkhira has grabbed this opportunity with both the hands and gave a testament to his self-belief.

In the ODI series that concluded on Wednesday, he exploited the conditions pretty well and bowled to his strength. The pitches were a bit sluggish and were holding up a bit; he adapted to the conditions and bowled accordingly. Most of his deliveries lacked pace as he preferred to go with slow off-cutters, puzzling the Indian batsmen. He got the new ball to swing and further more his seam up deliveries came at an adequate pace. A bowler becomes difficult to confront if he swings the ball at a good pace, Rahman exhibits these qualities.

For instance, he got the better of Indian batting stars Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina in all three ODIs. In the first ODI he foxed Rohit with a slower off-cutter delivery but in the second game he outplayed him with a seam up ball. And in the final ODI, Rohit fell prey to Rahman’s persistence. Getting rid of two established batsman in such a format speaks volumes of his temperament and intelligence.

He has a smooth action and his strength lies in his variations. He is well capable of bowling three different deliveries (seam up, off-cutter and slow spinners) without any discrete change in action. There is no specific change in his hand speed which makes it further more difficult for the batsman to pick his variations. Alike James Faulkner, even his slower deliveries gets reasonable bounce off the pitch; Suresh Raina’s wicket in the second ODI corroborates the belief.

It will be interesting to see how Bangladesh groom him as from here he will only get better. With age being on his side, physically and mentally his strength will increase and can probably add an extra yard or two to his current pace which will further make him more lethal. Mustafizur is a fan of Mohammad Aamer, who too made headlines when he broke to the international stage as a teenager in 2009. Like his idol, Mustafizur would look also like to add pace to his kitty.

A team’s fortunes depend on how the young talent nourishes, at the moment Bangladesh is witnessing a fruitful moment on the field and now have a pool of talented cricketers. Mustafizur can surely benefit from inputs by other subcontinent star bowlers like Wasim Akram, Chaminda Vaas or Zaheer Khan, but sometimes too many inputs can make you lose the way. For now, Bangladesh’s coach Heath Streak seems to be doing a fine job.