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Mustafizur voted debutant of the year

Update : 14 Mar 2016, 10:23 AM

Mustafizur Rahman has won the Debutant of the Year title - a category voted on by ESPNcricinfo's users, in addition to the jury.

He was instrumental in Bangladesh's unprecedented success in 2015, and a lot of that came from one particular type of delivery

His competitors for debutant of the year included fellow fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada, now a South African regular through his strong performances, Sri Lanka's Dushmantha Chameera, and England's Mark Wood.

In his first two ODIs, Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane. He took a total of 11 wickets in those matches - five in the first and six in the second - and every dismissal was celebrated with an air of wonderment and a toothy grin that won over a nation of 160 million.

But as impressive as the numbers from his breakthrough year are - 36 international wickets at 13.63 - they hardly tell the whole story. Mustafizur brings a freshness to the game with his homespun technique, bowling a mix of back-of-the-hand and front-of-the-hand slower balls, offcutters and traditional left-arm deliveries.

His international debut, in April in a T20 against Pakistan, gave little evidence of his varied skills. But by the time he made his Test debut, against South Africa in July, he had evolved from being just a left-armer with wicked variations to one who could, at times, bowl at higher pace and make the ball move in the air sharply and subtly.

Mustafizur's wickets have been high-profile too, which help his case for the best debutant title. Raina, Rohit and Quinton de Kock were three of five batsmen he dismissed three times, while JP Duminy, Regis Chakabva, Shahid Afridi, Sean Williams, Hashim Amla and Mohammad Hafeez also fell to him.

All this is pretty big for a kid from Tetulia village in Satkhira district, 230km to the south-west of Dhaka. Mustafizur is the youngest of three brothers, born in an affluent family. He first learned of cricket when he saw his father follow games on the radio. His older brothers took him to the local field to play, and after trying out as a batsman, Mustafizur took to bowling pace with his left arm, encouraged by a senior cricketer, who told him to go to Satkhira town.

There, Mustafizur impressed scouts in a regional age-group tournament and was sent to a pace bowling camp in Dhaka. Once at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mustafizur bowled to national-team stars, one of whom - Anamul Haque - dared him to bowl a slower ball. Mustafizur did, got Anamul out, and realised that it was a delivery he was quite adept at.

He was picked for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in UAE. Not long after that, he made his first-class and List A debuts. A call-up to Bangladesh A came unexpectedly, and in a year he was in the national team.

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