Twenty-year old Mustafizur Rahman shattered the record books after his arrival in the international stage. He remains Bangladesh’s brightest and best find of the year for his record-breaking performances and achievements. Here’s a quick look to his path to glory and what our country’s golden boy has achieved so far.
Family background
Mustafizur was born and brought up at Tetulia village in Satkhira district, a rural area where there were no facilities for playing cricket. His family comprises his parents, a sister and three elder brothers. He is the youngest in the family.
Early inspiration
Mustafizur started off as a batsman playing with the tennis ball at his hometown before switching to left-arm fast bowling. His elder brother Mokhlesur Rahman took him to cricket practice, 40km away from their house to Satkhira town on his bike every morning in the winter.
The breakthrough
The lanky teenager first attracted the attention in an Under-17 tournament in Satkhira and in 2012 came to Dhaka for a trial at a fast-bowling camp at the Sher-e Bangla National stadium. Mustafizur was rewarded a place in the U-19 2014 World Cup squad after the coaches were heavily impressed by his bowling at the nets. His eight wickets in the tournament in the UAE was followed up by a sudden Bangladesh A call-up for the West Indies tour.
Path to international arena
You cannot keep the name Mashrafe bin Mortaza out of any Tigers success. No matter what, the risk Masharfe took, by exposing Mustafizur to international cricket through the Twenty20 international against Pakistan in April, was worth every moment. After 2012, Mustafizur made his first-class debut for Khulna in April 2014 where he took 26 wickets. He is not just the youngest in his family but also the youngest in his club and first-class teams, and soon became the youngest among the Tigers as well. On his Bangladesh debut, Mustafizur took two wickets, that of Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez, but more importantly his raw talent was enough to pursue the team management that they need his variations to make a bigger impact in the international stage.
Dream run
June 18, 2015. Bangladesh won the first of three ODIs against India largely for Mustafizur’s five-for 50 on debut. It was just the beginning of a wonderful tale for both Mustafizur and Bangladesh cricket as the final half of the year belonged to both. His six-wicket haul in the following match sealed the Tigers a special series. Big names pondered about his skills as he outplayed any opponent that came his way. He played nine ODIs till date – three each against India, South Africa and Zimbabwe – and took 26 wickets as Bangladesh celebrated three back-to-back series wins.
2016 prediction
He played just two Tests and will no doubt be tested more in the coming days. His armoury, mainly the “cutter”, has baffled the world’s bests, but he needs to keep building his tricks in order to survive in the age of technology and improvisation. Mustafizur hasn’t yet played away from home with the national team and it remains to be seen how mesmerising he can be on more lively pitches in Australia and England. Picked in the Pakistan Super League T20 by Lahore Qalandars, the experience of playing in Qatar will be the first international stage tournament he will play outside Bangladesh. Meanwhile, the World T20 in March will be the biggest stage for the 20-year old. With similar conditions like Bangladesh, Mustafizur has the potential to finish among the top 10 bowlers in the WT20 in India.