Fortune favours the brave - Mustafizur Rahman's rise to the limelight
The name was on everyone’s lips. An 18-year-old had just won his team the game by taking 7 wickets in a Khulna Premier League match. Everyone who witnessed that performance from the left-arm pacer knew that he was special – that his talent was going to take him very far.
And so it did.
Fast forward a year and he finds himself being mobbed by his team-mates for an outstanding debut performance against India. Taking 5 wickets on a flat deck, he made sure that Bangladesh’s first ever 300+ score against India wasn’t going to go in vain.
The bowler is none other than Mustafizur Rahman.
His rise to the starlight has been a very a quick one. Few players have made it so quickly to the Bangladeshi cricket team and he is one of this easily exhaustible list.
The only young left-arm pacer in the country
Hailing from Satkira, his talent was apparent from a very young age. While playing in the aforementioned Khulna Premier League, he was already a member of the Bangladesh U-19 team. After that, he was signed by Abahani Limited – where he played this season and had a stunning one in the process.
During his stint in the under-19s, his performance, coupled with the fact he was a left-arm pacer – a rarity in Bangladesh – earned him a place in the Bangladesh A team. From there, he was called up for the national team for the only T20 game against Pakistan, where he took 2 wickets in his 4 overs while only giving away 20 runs.
Luck favours the brave and this is what happened with Mustafizur. There is not a single left-arm pacer in Bangladesh from the U-19 structure itself and that played really well in his favour.
17 wickets in only 6 List A games is a testament to his immense potential. His main weapon is the slower ball – the off-cutter. Almost every batsman that he has bowled to has found it impossible to pick up that deadly weapon – and the Indian batsmen were no exception.
His stint in the domestic is circuit itself has been a very short one thus far. His raw talent and composed demeanor meant that the Bangladesh cricket team selectors saw it fit to take the risk of playing a relatively unknown and highly inexperienced bowler against one of the finest batting line-ups in world cricket.
And it paid off.
The future Starc of Bangladesh
While he has just played one game and giving any verdict now would be a step in the realm of premeditation, it is safe to say that Bangladesh have found themselves a gem. Left-arm pacers can be deadly with the correct training and calculated pitching – just look at Mitchell Starc – and Mustafizur has all the tools to become one.
The last time Bangladesh had a left-arm pacer was Syed Rasel. While he was a decent bowler with good accuracy, the tag of a pacer doesn’t do justice to the truth as he could rarely throw a ball that crossed the 120kmph mark.
With Mustafizur, he already bowls at the 130kmph mark with his extremely thin body frame. He is also only just 19 and with some more hours in the gym, the pace will go up and he can what Starc does so well now. However, that should not be the main area for him to focus as his line-length is his biggest strength and he should keep it that way.
He can become a nightmare for right-handed batsmen if he keeps working hard. This generation of Bangladesh are seeing a massive influx of quality pacers, but Mustafiizur gives the most hope as his left-arm pacers give great diversity to the team.
With 2 more games to go in the series, Bangladesh have a real chance of winning it. A lot of expectations lie on the shoulders of the batsmen to do well, but after today’s performance, most eyes will be on young Mustafizur to keep shining like he can.