Almost quietly, Mustafizur conjures up yet another masterclass

More often than not, the lead character of a film or a show gets all the accolades but the people putting in the supporting acts remain uncelebrated. 

There has been a lot of talk about Rishad Hossain’s guile, Towhid Hridoy’s power-hitting and Shakib Al Hasan’s welcome return to form, but there’s one man who has been, almost quietly, doing his job day in and day out.

Sri Lanka were going great guns at 48-1 in the sixth over in their T20 World Cup opener against Bangladesh in Dallas.

Sri Lanka’s scoring rate at that time was more than nine and a half runs per over and given Bangladesh’s brittle batting line-up, the match looked like slipping away from their hands. 

But Mustafizur Rahman had other ideas. He got the wickets of Kamindu Mendis and Sri Lanka’s top-scorer Pathum Nissanka in a span of 15 minutes or so to dent the opponent’s progress big time. 

Just before Rishad Hossain bowled that game-changing double-wicket over, Mustafizur had bowled a five-run over where Dhananjaya de Silva lived dangerously and could have been out at least twice. There was a leg-before shout against Charith Asalanka as well.

This was in the 14th over and a tidy one from Bangladesh put immense pressure on Sri Lanka as they had just reached the 100-run mark. Sri Lanka had to go big in the next over and that brought Rishad’s leg-spin into play. 

Then the inevitable followed. Sri Lanka huffed and puffed their way to 124 which was never going to be enough. 

Mustafizur finished with three for 17 off his four overs.

Against South Africa in New York, Mustafizur went wicketless but was the team’s most economical bowler, giving away just 18 runs in four overs. 

He understood the pitch quickly, bowled into the surface and made life difficult for the Protea big-hitters. Probably the only mistake he made in that match was going full against David Miller and being hit for a six.

Then he returned to do the most Mustafizur job ever, for the umpteenth time. He mostly went slow and away from Keshav Maharaj’s bat and bowled four dots on the trot in the 20th over and in the end conceded just four runs. 

According to ESPNCricinfo’s score predictor, that over had a negative impact of six runs and South Africa’s total stood at 113 instead of 119. 

On Thursday against the Netherlands which was a must-win game, Mustafizur gave absolutely nothing away. 

He bowled as many as 17 dots, the joint-most in a T20 World Cup match for Bangladesh, in his one for 12. It was the second-most economical four-over spell by a Bangladesh bowler in the history of the tournament. 

He got rid of the Netherlands captain Scott Edwards, who had hurt Bangladesh badly in last year’s 50-over World Cup when they needed 43 off the last four overs. 

It was the final nail in the coffin for the Dutch. As per ESPNCricinfo’s win predictor, the over was almost as impactful as the double-wicket over from Rishad that turned the match on its head.

That 17th over bowled by Mustafizur yielded just a solitary run and took the game completely away from Edwards’ men.

Tim Pringle then was strangled by Mustafizur by an array of cutters into the surface as the former could barely put bat on ball.

Mustafizur now has four wickets in three matches and the economy rate of 3.91 is only behind Anrich Nortje and Fazalhaq Farooqi so far in the tournament. It should be noted that Nortje played all three of his matches in bowling-friendly New York and two of Farooqi’s three matches were against Uganda and Papua New Guinea.

Mustafizur’s form has been up and down for the past few years but he reveled for the Chennai Super Kings in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

Lovingly called. “The Fizz”, the left-arm seamer got 14 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 9.26 in a high-scoring tournament and was the purple cap holder for a fair amount of time.

He went wicketless in only one game and in that clash, he was exceptionally economical and even bowled a maiden, quite rare in this year’s IPL.

“If I succeed in the IPL, it is easier for me to attain success elsewhere,” Mustafizur said during the tournament and former India cricketer Parthiv Patel noted that the IPL experience made him a “smarter” bowler.

In the IPL, Mustafizur excelled in successfully bowling the wide line and away from the batters’ eyeline. It’s evident from his World Cup exploits that he is consciously trying to bowl away from the hitting arc of the batters and using the crease to greater effect, particularly at the death, something he did extensively for Chennai. 

In the ongoing T20 World Cup, Mustafizur has not conceded a single boundary in the slog overs (17-20) and has an astonishing economy rate of 2.25 in that phase.

“You can see a lot of improvement in his bowling,” Patel told Cricbuzz after the Bangladesh-Netherlands game. “With experience and playing for Chennai Super Kings, he has been using the crease and angles really well. His understanding of the pitches has become better. He has become a smarter bowler.”

“A great example is how he bowled in New York. He was the only bowler who didn’t try to bowl yorkers. We saw a lot of bowlers [including] Haris Rauf and Arshdeep Singh trying to bowl yorkers. Playing for CSK, he has [come to] understand his limitations. He knows he can’t bowl at 145 kph and so he uses the angles pretty well,” he added.

Mustafizur, this year, has 45 T20 wickets and only Shaheen Shah Afridi has more scalps than him. The economy rate has been 8.55 which is decent given that he bowls the tough overs.

“Fizz, we know how good he is. He showed his experience and skill,” said a happy Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto after the Netherlands game.

Bangladesh are now the runaway favourites to reach the Super Eight. If they do so, two of their matches will be in Tarouba, the slowest-scoring ground traditionally in the World Cup. The other one will be in Kingstown where Mustafizur delivered a masterclass against the Netherlands. 

Former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza noted that it could be anyone’s World Cup on these slow, low wickets in the Caribbean and if Mustafizur is in form in a couple of Super Eight games, Bangladesh can dream of doing what they have never done in the T20 flagship event.