‘Cool, mysterious, inspiring’

Mustafizur Rahman’s team mates in Dhaka are following him keenly as he sets the Indian Premier League on fire with his otherworldly skills with the ball. Taskin Ahmed, Abu Haider Rony and Al Amin Hossain have spent a lot of time together in matches, at practice or in the team hotel where fast bowlers are usually clubbed together in meetings and gym and training sessions.

After his latest man-of-the-match winning performance last Saturday for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kings XI Punjab where he bowled four very tight overs giving away nine runs and picking up two wickets, his Bangladesh team mates said they believed his bag of tricks with the ball is unique. The performance in the IPL came on the day when he completed exactly one year in international cricket having made his Twenty20I debut against Pakistan in Mirpur on April 24 last year.

In his maiden IPL season, Mustafizur has already made his mark with seven wickets and an enviable economy of 5.75 per over. Communicating in English has been a problem but his bowling is doing all the talking.

According to Taskin, Mustafizur is still a mysterious bowler for opposition batsmen, and created a comfort for his team. Whenever he is in attack or has a few overs left to bowl, the team remain confident that the opponent batsmen won’t have much to do.

“Not only myself, but no one in the world have been able to read him. I have tried many times but it is not possible, to be honest. I want it to remain this way for him, he has been a key to Bangladesh’s success in the recent times and we want him to keep on doing that. He has been sensational so far in the IPL. I feel proud that a Bangladeshi is earning the name,” Taskin told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

Al Amin has shared only a little time in the dressing room with Mustafizur but every time they have been together, he felt the excitement and honour of playing alongside such a talented bowler. “I feel proud as a Bangladeshi to have a bowler like Mustafizur, he has touched the sky within no time. To be honest he works as an inspiration to me. His success pushes me to better what I am doing,” said Al Amin.

Haider, who is also a left-arm paceman like Mustafizur, said the key to his success is keeping pressure away. He also said he hardly misses any of Sunrisers’ matches because of his team mate.

“A bowler easily gets nervous after getting hit by the batsman, but Mustafizur doesn’t. He has always been like this and that is a big advantage for him. Most of the time we are having fun at the practice session but there are times when I try to learn things from him being a left-arm pacer, especially the slower balls.

“I believe his slowers are God-gifted and one cannot just learn it. It has come from within. I don’t see much of the IPL but I am not missing any of his games, he is exciting to watch,” said Haider.