Although Bangladesh have traditionally relied heavily on spinners to deliver them a win, they currently have a good crop of fast bowlers coming through who have impressed one and all. Their real strength will always be their slow bowlers but now with a couple of good fast bowlers to support the old warhorse and captain Mashrafe Mortaza, the scene looks bright for the Bangla boys.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza
Mashrafe Mortaza is a lovable character, warm and mellow off the field while being fiercely competitive on the field. He shot to fame in the early 2000’s as the first genuine fast bowler produced by Bangladesh and he always had the talent required to succeed at the highest level. His 4 wicket spell in the 2007 ICC World Cup in the West Indies against India helped Bangladesh dump them out in the first round itself. But his career never really took off fully due to the numerous operations and surgeries he has had on his legs, ankles and knees.
He is an inspirational leader who has led the Bangladesh side by wearing his heart on his sleeve and is always up for a fight. He will have to give his side the lift by bowling tight early overs preferably picking up a wicket or two as well.
Impact Rating – 7/10
Mustafizur Rahman
Mustafizur burst on the scene when he ambushed the famed Indian batting line up twice by picking a 5-fer and a 6-fer in his first two ODI matches last year. The very next month he picked up 5 wickets as Bangladesh defeated a strong Protea side 2-1 in the ODI’s. He has the unique distinction of winning the Man of the Match award in both his ODI and test debut matches!
Rahman is a left arm pace bowler who bowls a lot of cutters and it is the lack of pace and the subtle movement off the pitch that often defeat the batsman. He has had a stellar start to his ODI career and his T20I stats don’t make for a bad reading either having picked up 10 wickets in 7 matches at an economy rate of under 6. He will be their most potent weapon at the WT20 and their most impact player.
Impact Rating – 7.5/10
Taskin Ahmed, Al-Amin Hossain and Abu Hider
Taskin made his T20I debut in the ICC WT20 2014 in Bangladesh against Australia and impressed me with his pace and accuracy. He was capable of bowling quick and bowled some searing yorkers at the death.
Hossain is a talented right arm pace bowler who has done well for Bangladesh in the shorter formats of the game. He has 21 wickets in 14 ODI’s and 20 from 13 T20I’s which make him a very viable option to play for Bangladesh. He played 2 T20I matches against Zimbabwe last month in which he took 3 wickets.
Hider is a 19 year old left arm fast medium bowler who made his debut against Zimbabwe in the T20I’s last month. He took 3 wickets in the 2 matches though his economy rate of over 9 left a lot to be desired.
Combined Impact Rating – 6/10
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
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