‘Mustafizur wants to get better’

After a continuation of his lean patch in Bangladesh’s recently concluded tour of India, ace left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman has already started to practise at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday with the aim of regaining his rhythm.

Bangladesh pacers were made to look largely ineffective in the Indore and Kolkata Tests, while the Indian pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami dominated and at times seemed unplayable to the Bangladesh batsmen, who lacked the technical ability to negotiate a fast bowling unit swinging the ball at pace.

Mustafizur, who is considered to be one of the top pacers in the country, had unimpressive returns in the three T20Is and was dropped for both Tests. The 24-year-old did not even make the cut in the pink-ball Test in Kolkata, a match where the Tigers fielded three pacers -- Al Amin Hossain, Ebadot Hossain and Abu Jayed -- because the fixture was expected to aid the pacers due to the extra movement that the pink ball offers.

Mustafizur, who is not in the list of players who will represent Bangladesh in the upcoming SA Games in December, practised in Mirpur yesterday under the guidance of High Performance bowling coach Champaka Ramanayake.

“No [he is not included in the Bangladesh Under-23 team for SA Games]. He comes and works with me. And he wants to get better so I am helping him. He wants to bowl, so I said ‘come and bowl at us’,” Champaka told reporters in Mirpur yesterday.

The Sri Lankan pointed out where Mustafizur has been lacking recently.

“I think he has a bit of a rhythm issue. But he is working on it. He did not bowl the right length [in the India tour]. He understands that. Everybody sometimes goes through bad patches and if they realise it early, they can recover.” said Champaka.

He also believed that even though Mustafizur has not been 100 per cent in his skills level, he will be able to bounce back soon.

“I have not really worked with him for long. I am just looking at him. I am pretty sure he will get back as he has done so a lot of times. He is a smart boy. He was not 100 per cent in his skills level but I am pretty sure he is working towards that.”