"He enjoys playing in the IPL more than playing for the Bangladesh team" - Shoriful Islam on Mustafizur Rahman
Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam recently made an interesting claim about countryman Mustafizur Rahman with regards to the country vs club debate. Islam said that the left-arm seamer enjoys playing more in the IPL due to the lower pressure involved than he does for Bangladesh.
The country vs club debate sparked after BCB cricket operations' chair Jalal Yunus questioned the usefulness of featuring in IPL over playing for Bangladesh. Yunus and Akram Khan held contrasting views about Mustafizur playing in the IPL. Akram reckons the seamer benefits from playing in the tournament, which will, in turn, help Bangladesh too. Yunus, on the other hand, feels IPL players can learn more from Mustafizur and he will learn nothing.
Shoriful, meanwhile, opined that there is more expectation when playing for Bangladesh and pressure follows in case of underperformance. As quoted by Cricbuzz, the 22-year-old claimed:
"I watch every game and every ball Mustafizur bowls. I talk to him the day after the matches. I think he [Mustafizur] enjoys playing in the IPL more than playing for the Bangladesh team. It is because the pressure is less there. Perhaps, there are a lot of expectations when playing for Bangladesh and you come under immense pressure if you don't play well."
The 28-year-old has had a fruitful season with the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024 after the franchise picked him up for his base price of ₹2 crore. He is the leading wicket-taker for the Super Kings this season with 11 wickets in 6 matches at 20.54 apiece.
"He couldn't meet the expectations in the last one or two games" - Shoriful Islam
Shoriful Islam also talked about Mustafizur's inconsistency in the last few international games, adding:
"He (Mustafizur) is performing regularly. It is just that he has been unable to perform in the last two or three games (for the national team). What I mean by pressure is that everyone's expectations are quite high because of his performance over the last couple of years. Perhaps he couldn't meet the expectations in the last one or two games."
Mustafizur will arguably be one of Bangladesh's key bowlers in the upcoming T20 World Cup.