The incredible rise of Mehidy
Sports Reporter, Dhaka
Mehidy Hasan Mirajs performance in this year was one of things that Bangladesh could savour. The spinning all-rounders performance puts him in the leg of Big Five as far as the consistency is taken into consideration. Thereby he sparked a debate whether he is going to be the next thing of Bangladesh cricket.
Bangladesh head coach Steve Rhodes often insisted during his short stint that media does not try to look beyond the big five- Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad and Tamim Iqbal- but there are many being overshadowed despite performing consistently.
The big five gets a mention a lot. And I respect them and I think they are wonderful players. But Im so pleased that Bangladesh possess more than the big five. Youve only gotta look at Mehidy Miraj and his season so far and what hes been doing for a while now. A young fellow whos a great all-rounder, good fielder, he can bat well and hes a wonderful spin bowler who bowls well at any time. He plays all formats and is a great example, Rhodes said during the just concluded series against West Indies. The Englishman announced it probably after watching the rise of Mehidy who is turning out to be an integral part of Bangladesh set-up across formats and largely due to the fact that the youngster is always ready to take the challenge.
During the Asia Cup final Mehidy came to open the innings after ODI asked him to fill the spot of Tamim Iqbal who was dropped following a left knuckle fracture sustained in the first match of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka.
Mehidy looked poised to take up the challenge with his 59-ball 32 and though his innings was overshadowed by Liton Kumar Dass brilliant 117-ball 121 runs, it helped Bangladesh opening pair made over 100 runs for the first time since December 2016.
Although it is the big five who performed across formats throughout the year, Mehidy remains the only other player to have risen to the occasions at crucial times for the Tigers and remains consistent all format of the cricket
Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam finished the year as Bangladeshs top wicket-taker in Tests, scalping 43 wickets in seven matches but its Mehidy who was the impact player in the Test series against West Indies, despite the presence of Shakib Al Hasan. The off-spinner also recorded best bowling figure of Bangladesh in a Test match by claiming 12 wickets for 117 runs in the second Test against West Indies that had earned him the player-of-the-match award in a game that Bangladesh won by an innings and 184 runs, their biggest ever win in Test cricket. His consistency in Test cricket is proved with his 41 wickets in eight Tests that put him in second position on the wicket-takers list for Bangladesh in 2018 behind Taijul, who is only playing Test format.
While he is yet to set the world alight in T20Is, there were enough creditable performances in the format that suggested it wont take long time for him to learn the trade of the shortest format.
Pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman finished as Bangladeshs highest wicket-taker in both ODIs and T20Is but he however does not have the Test performances of Mehidy and given that some promising youngsters have fallen by the wayside, 2018 can be seen as the year that Mehidy cemented himself as the next big thing in Bangladesh cricket.
Age-level selector Sazzad Ahmed had seen the growth of Mehidy from the early days and said that he is convinced that he is here to stay because of his simple way of thinking.
