5 young bowlers to look out for in the upcoming Cricket season
The first half of the year is over. Cricket’s slam-bang version has satiated the thirst for big sixes and humongous scores – but now it’s time for cricket’s purest form to take over. A long (and exciting) Test calendar beckons, and with the points system introduced in the England-Sri Lanka series, the five-day version of the game may finally have some context.
India, Australia and England are to play more than 20 Tests amongst them, and with pitches around the world becoming more batsman-friendly, it has become imperative for the bowlers to put in the hard yards in order to be a cut above the rest. Here, Sportskeeda lists 5 bowlers who could make an impact in the upcoming cricket season.
#1 Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh)
If 2015’s left arm bowler of the year was Mitchell Starc, 2016 certainly seems to be going the lanky Bangladesh pacer’s way. Mustafizur Rahman has broken language, economical and even stereotypical barriers to emerge as one of the hottest properties on the international circuit.
He’s a canny and a wily customer to deal with – he can induce a false shot via a cutter or can crush toes via a yorker with equal precision – and has a shrewd cricketing brain that has earned the plaudits of David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan.
Rahman averages an unreal 14.50 in ODIs, has snared a four-wicket haul on Test debut, and has an economy of under 6 after his first 13 T20Is. He has befuddled the best in the business (Rohit Sharma has fallen prey to him three times already) and has the skill set and temperament to transfer his limited over success to the five-day version.
His exploits for Bangladesh in the World T20 – where he snared 9 wickets – and his league-winning contribution for the current IPL champions Sunrisers Hyderabad have propelled him into the spotlight again. He is due for a county stint with Sussex later this year and one can safely assume that this 20-year old’s career graph is only going to go up.
Upcoming fixtures: Tour of New Zealand in December