Mustafizur Rahman

Mustafizur Rahman (Bengali: মুস্তাফিজুর রহমান; born 6 September 1995) is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. A left-arm fast-medium bowler, he is recognized for his most prolific 'slower cutters' all over the world. His career took off during the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League when he caught the attention of cricket pundits with his ability to bowl accurate cutters and slower deliveries, earning him the nickname "''The Fizz''." This talent quickly propelled him to international prominence.

Making his debut for the Bangladesh national team in 2015, Mustafizur Rahman showcased his skills in the limited-overs formats. Mustafizur's international career highlights includes his debut series against India in 2015, where he became the first player to claim 11 wickets in his first two one day international matches. This achievement propelled Bangladesh to a historic series victory over India. He has represented his country in numerous international tournaments, including the ICC Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy, and Asia Cup. In club career he was acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016 with a fee of $208k, where he won his first Indian Premier League (IPL) title. He was the fifth highest wicket taker in the tournament. He has subsequently played in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings.

He is the only overseas player to win the Emerging Player Award in 2016 IPL for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was listed in ICC Men's ODI Team of the Year three times (2015, 2018, 2021) and ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year once (2021).

Early career

In 2012, Mustafizur travelled to Bangladesh's capital Dhaka to try out for a fast-bowlers camp. Prior to that, scouters first encountered him in an Under-17 tournament in Satkhira. He was admitted to the Bangladesh Cricket Board's foundation of fast bowling. Soon he was selected to the Bangladesh Under-19 side for the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in UAE, where he took a total of eight wickets.

Mustafizur started both his First-class cricket and List-A cricket from 2014, representing Khulna Division and Abahani Limited, respectively. He was picked for Bangladesh A's tour of West Indies.

International career

Emergence

Mustafizur began his international career in a twenty overs match against Pakistan on 24 April 2015, where he took the wickets of Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez, two veteran Pakistani batsmen.

In June 2015, India toured Bangladesh for one Test and three One Day Internationals. Mustafizur was picked in the ODI squad. In his first match of the series, Mustafizur gave signs of his potential against the strong Indian batting line-up by taking a five-wicket haul off 9.2 overs in the first match. Bangladesh won the match and Mustafizur became the tenth bowler in the history of ODIs to take five wickets on debut. In the second ODI, Mustafizur took another six wickets. This helped him to earn the record of most wickets of any bowler after two ODIs, surpassing the record previously held by Zimbabwe's Brian Vitori. He completed the last ODI with 2 wickets and made history by taking 13 wickets in a three-match ODI series.

The following month, Mustafizur took 5 wickets in three ODIs to help Bangladesh win the series against South Africa by 2–1. He made his Test debut in the same series versus South Africa where he picked up 4 wickets.

Injury problems

In the month of November, Bangladesh hosted Zimbabwe for three ODIs and two T20s. Mustafizur played a salient role in the ODI matches, taking a total of 8 wickets. For his performances in 2015, he was named in the World ODI XI by ICC. He was also named in the ODI XI of the year 2015 by ''ESPNcricinfo'' and ''Cricbuzz''. He captured his third five-wicket haul in the last game. He could not contribute much in the T20 series, though he bowled economically, which resulted in both sides sharing a win. The next year in January, Bangladesh again played with Zimbabwe in four T20s. Mustafizur played in the first two matches, which they won. While bowling in the second T20I against Zimbabwe in January 2016, Mustafizur injured his shoulder. Following that, he was dropped from the squad for the first time since his debut.

During the Asia Cup held in the next month, he was again sidelined from the team due to his side strain, playing only the first three games. He was able to play against Australia, India and New Zealand in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 held in India in March. He became the first Bangladeshi bowler to grab five wickets in the history of T20 World Cup