About time Mushy scored big

Tamim Iqbal had hogged all the spotlight during the last home series against Pakistan with back-to-back hundreds. The left-hander's batting was simply outstanding in that series. And now when Bangladesh are looking to continue their good form against visiting India in the three-match ODI series, without any doubt they will expect a similar kind of performance from the opener, who had also played a memorable innings to upset India in the 2007 World Cup.

The home team will also be looking to their most dependable batsman in the middle and he is none other than Mushfiqur Rahim and hope that he will overcome his poor showing in the recent Test matches and continue with his good ODI form.

Mushfiqur was the batsman who actually held the middle order together and gave solidity to Bangladesh batting in the Pakistan series.

Those memories are still fresh in the minds of millions of cricket lovers; the way the little right-hander executed his slog sweeps with near perfection and the manner in which he backed away from the wicket to launch the ball over covers, terrorising the Pakistan bowling attack during his knocks of 106, 65 and an unbeaten 49.

The technically-sound Mushfiqur's effortless shots are perhaps the most enjoyable scenes for Bangladesh cricket fans today. To many, the sound of his willow seems like music to the ears. He seems like a hard nut to crack when he is out in the middle, but unfortunately the performances of the country's best batsman in the last three Tests were not satisfactory.

After a brilliant ODI series against Pakistan, he suddenly lost his rhythm and his scores in the last three Test matches were 32, 0, 12, 0 and 2. Most importantly the manner in which he was dismissed in those innings raised many eyebrows. Many doubted whether his finger injury hindered the consistency in his batting.

Mushfiqur injured his finger while keeping on the second day of the first Test at Khulna in the series against Pakistan and he did not keep for the rest of that match. However, he batted briefly and uncomfortably in the second innings of the famous drawn Test.

But his decision to keep in the second Test at Dhaka perhaps proved to be a big setback to the healing of his injury and it was quite evident in his batting in both innings of the match, where a batsman of his stature and technique was playing ordinary shots. In the one-off Test against India he did not take up the gloves, but wished to stand behind the stumps in the ODI series. However, his team will definitely wish his bat continued to speak against India.