Newly appointed Bangladesh pace bowling coach Allan Donald laments about the fact that Bangladesh Test team doesn’t get the service of left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman in Test match cricket.
Former South Africa pacer Donald, given charge as the Bangladesh bowling coach till the next ICC T20 World Cup, spoke on Mustafizur in an interview with cricket-based website Cricbuzz.
During the long interview Donald was asked whether Bangladesh may have a formamidable pace attack considering there is no Mustafizur playing the formant. Donald explaining Mustafizur’s choice of not playing Test cricket mentioned the cricketers these days like to choose their best formats of the game to excel in the chosen formats and that he is a fan of the Bangladesh left-arm pacer.
“We have got Shoriful [Islam], Taskin [Ahmed] and Ebadat [Hossain] (in Test format) and yes of course Mustafizur who is no longer part of the Test squad and as I told you earlier, it's a pity that Mustafizur is no longer there playing Test cricket. But that is just personal preference by players these days; they can excel in one format and I think with everything else it's the T20 competition that prompts the players to play and make money,” said Donald in the interview.
Donald has been eager to join the team and have chat with the pace bowling unit and work on to finding the identity of Bangladesh bowling attack.
“I am massive fan of Mustafizur and I said it number of times in 2016 that that guy got every trick in the book in white-ball format to trouble any batting line-up. He is unpredictable and I am looking forward to work with Fizz. I think with the chat that we are going to have; it will give them a better understanding of the identity of Bangladesh bowling attack. I don't know whether that have ever been discussed in the Bangladesh dressing room. What kind of attack do you think we need to have? Every guy has a different skill and a different role in the team. How do we mold that together that says right? this is our identity in white ball cricket and this is our identity in Test match cricket. It's a lot of understanding and it's a lot of buying into a system that will make Bangladeshi bowlers a better unit,” the former South Africa right-arm pacer added.
Mustafizur made his Test debut in 2015 against South Africa at Chittagong’s Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. The 26-year-old has played 14 Tests for Bangladesh before putting the format to rest after cricket returned to the field since Covid-19. Mustafizur had requested the national selection panel to not select him for longer version cricket citing the challenge of staying in bio-bubble and also because of injuries.