Warner: Bangladesh need to look after Fizz

Australia opener David Warner said Bangladesh need to look after the fast bowlers, especially left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman, the Aussie vice captain’s Sunrisers Hyderabad team mate. The left-handed batsman made the remark when queried to share his insight into Mustafizur’s performance in the two-match Test series between the two teams. “I think he (Mustafizur) is a very good bowler. I think the one thing that I think Bangladesh have to do is look after him. We’ve been through it for an extensive period of time as well. You have to look after your fast bowlers, so if he’s your No 1 strike bowler moving forward when you’ve got a couple of Test matches and one-dayers coming up, you’ve really got to monitor that and you’ve got to obviously prioritise whether it’s Test cricket, one-day cricket, T20 cricket,” Warner told the media following the third day’s play of the Chittagong Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Wednesday. Mustafizur, who plays under Warner for IPL T20 franchise Sunrisers, has not been able to meet expectations in recent times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKEhDBPxIZ0 The Tigers pacer made a flying to start to his international career in 2015, in the home series against India. But since then, and more so after surgery on his shoulder in August last year, Mustafizur has been found struggling on occasions. Mustafizur in his maiden appearance for Sunrisers in the IPL was key to the side’s title winning campaign. But just the following season, the Bangladesh pacer was found sitting on the bench more often than not. Warner said Mustafizur and the Bangladesh team can think of prioritising a format, rather than pushing in all three in order to get the best result. “That’s obviously a conversation for them to have with him but I think he’s an exceptional talent, an exceptional bowler, and it’s obviously upon him to work out if he wants to play all three forms, one form, or two forms,” Warner explained. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FdSkZMh_l8 Warner and Mustafizur are great friends both on and off the field and the former rates the latter highly. Mustafizur in the first Test against Australia last month remained wicket-less, bowling only nine overs in the game. In the Chittagong Test, where host Bangladesh are looking for a clean sweep, Mustafizur’s fortunes have improved slightly. The left-armer picked up three wickets to cut off the Aussie lead. Australia are currently leading by 72 with a wicket in hand in the first innings, replying to Bangladesh’s 305 all out.