Pace prodigy Mustafiz doesn�t target any one
Sports Reporter
While the Asia Cup zeal rises to fever pitch amid the unexpected early summer heat in Dhaka, all eyes will be locked on fast bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman who set the cricketing world on fire since his debut.
Enduring all the pressures and expectations, the young prodigious boy of Bangladesh made an avalanche of record to leave the world cricket stunned. Even though he scythed down Pakistan on his international debut in a T20 match in April last year, the world cricket noticed his phenomenal rise against India. He took 11 wickets in his first two ODIs against India to create a history and in doing so, he has become an overnight sensation in world cricket.
Everyone however was convinced the Indians would figure him out in the following games after being rattled by him but how wrong they were. Not only did he fox India through the three-match series, he also left the South Africans searching for answers in the one after, making everyone sit up and take notice. The consistency was continued against Zimbabwe too. All of those record breaking feats came up in ODI cricket but there is no scope to search a respite from the fact. He was even more dangerous in shortest format and remained almost unplayable during the BPL T20 tournament even without his stock delivery-cutter.
Just in 10 months in international cricket, Mustafizur has already established him as the mythical character like his captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza whose leadership skill earned him a lot of accolades.
His two types of cutter and slower remains a mystery as yet. But not the bowling prodigy only which made him apparent, it was his brain which he uses to perfection, according to his captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
During BPL, he never delivers any cutter to any foreign players and thats the fact why he is so matured than his actual age, Mashrafe once said during an informal hang out.
Mashrafe was unfazed by the fact India are expected to figure Mustafizur out this time around. The captain termed Mustafizur a bowler of different planet, saying he is the bowler who doesnt care anything else and doesnt bother about what others are thinking about him.
What Mustafizur can do its difficult for others to replicate that, Mashrafe said, heaping enormous praise on his young bowler.
Sometimes what happens is that players try to listen to what others talk about him, but he is different. He doesnt even care about what others say about him. So to deal with him is very easy.
According to Mashrafe what the Indian think or plan, they wouldnt be able to deal with the prodigious bowler.
Mustafiz is always confident because he has the slower, the cutter, even that ball can be bowled with variation. The important thing is how confident he is. He doesnt worry about the opponent before a match because he believes in his own deliveries rather than thinking what the batsmen will do. Thats why he remains ahead in the battle, and this will take him very ahead.
No wonder Mustafizur will be a go to bowler for Bangladesh. Being tormented by in the last visit in Bangladesh to Mustafizur, India also have an eye on him.
Mustafizur has done really well in the last one year since he played against us, he has really bowled well for Bangladesh. It was exciting to see you know, 19-year-old, he has come on board, and you know slower balls along with bowling at 140 clicks that was something different for us as well, said Indias vice-captain Virat Kohli.
With the new ball he was bowling really good slower balls and cutters so yeah he brought in something different to the game, spiced the game up a bit more, which I think is a bit exciting, you have bowlers coming in, Kohli, the Test captain of India added.
Kohli though didnt disclose what plan they had taken to deal with Mustafizur, he stated, As a batsman also you get more competitive saying that I need to prepare differently and tackle him differently, so it improves your own game. He has bowled really well and he is obviously going to be a big factor for Bangladesh in the tournament.
