In deceptive Mustafizur, B’desh find a new star
Tribune New Service
Chandigarh, June 21
On Saturday, Rohit Sharma couldn't remember the name "Mustafizur Rahman" — the Indian opener referred to Rahman as "the guy... the left-arm seamer".
Rahman gave Rohit and India a strong reminder about himself and his name today. Playing his second One-day International, the 19-year-old picked up his second successive five-wicket haul, finishing with 6/43 tonight. In two matches, he's picked up 11 wickets, becoming the star of Bangladesh's first series win over India.
Rahman bowls slow medium-pace, but his chief weapon is an even slower off-cutter. The Indian batsmen have consistently failed to read this slow off-cutter. He's got some big names out in the two One-dayers — Rohit (twice), Rahane, Dhoni, Raina (twice), Jadeja (twice).
The remarkable thing about Rahman is that he seems quite innocuous. He's no speedster, bowling at less than 130kmph. "Mustafizur Rahman won the game for Bangladesh by bowling at an average speed of 125 kph," Sanjay Manjrekar said after the first One-dayer. "It shows speed is not everything."
Manjrekar said that the slow pace and off-cutters by Mustafizur "foxed" India. "They must now play him like a left-arm spinner bowling off a long run-up," he said.
The Indian batsmen failed to read Rahman today as well. Apart from his off-cutter, Rahman's other claim to his recent fame is the collision he had with Dhoni in the first ODI. For this, Rahman was fined 50 percent of his match fee and Dhoni was fined 75 percent of his. That incident, with Rahman deliberately walking into the path of a batsman trying to complete a run, suggests that Rahman was trying to play like the "big boys" in his first One-day match. But, by all accounts, he's a very quiet and soft-spoken young man who has worked very on his bowling, especially the deceptive slow off-cutter. "One day in the U-19 nets Bijoy bhai (Anamul Haque) asked me if I could bowl him a slower cutter," Mustafizur said the other day. "I tried it for the first time and I got him out. That's when I started bowling that delivery."
Mustafizur feats
He is the first bowler in history to take 11 wickets in opening 2 ODIs.
He's only the second bowler to take 5 or more wickets in the opening two games of their career. The other bowler being Zimbabwe's Brian Vitori who pickied up 5/30 and 5/20 against Bangladesh in 2011 in Harare.
