Potential turns to promise?

With next summer's World Cup on England's seaming pitches in mind, where a seamer who can also be handy with the bat is crucial to a flexible team combination, the Bangladesh team management have desperately been looking for a pace-bowling all-rounder.

They have their eyes on a few candidates, with Ariful Haque, Mohammad Saifuddin and even Soumya Sarkar being the frontrunners. With a three-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in the second ODI in Chattogram yesterday, which followed his maiden ODI fifty in Sunday's first match in Dhaka, Saifuddin can now be said to be top of the list.

It is yesterday's performance that would have pleased the team management most. While the Tigers seemed to unearth a wealth of pace-bowling talent in 2014 and 2015 with the likes of Taskin Ahmed and Al-Amin Hossain emerging before Mustafizur Rahman took the world by storm, only the latter survived. As things stand, the team have three pacers to count on -- skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Mustafizur -- which is why Saifuddin's continued rise will be very important for Bangladesh going into the World Cup.

Over the past decade or so there were a few pace-bowling all-rounders tried by the team management but there was only one name in the list who showed occasional glimpses of being a genuine seam-bowling all-rounder -- former captain Khaled Mahmud.

During the early stage of Bangladesh cricket, the diminutive all-rounder played a crucial role with his slow-medium pacers while also chipped in with valuable contributions with the bat.

Apart from Mahmud, there were a few others in the likes of Mushfiqur Rahman Babu, Neeyamur Rashid, Forhad Reza and Ziaur Rahman. Unfortunately, however, none were able to live up to expectations.

Forhad was the most promising as he smashed a fifty on ODI debut and also picked up a five-wicket haul in ODIs, but he just could not lift his game to the biggest stage despite having a bulk of domestic experience.

Young Saifuddin, who returned to the side after a year and smashed his maiden fifty against Zimbabwe at a crucial stage -- along with Imrul Kayes he added a record 127-run seventh-wicket stand -- that helped Bangladesh set up a match-winning target after the Tigers were reeling on 139 for six.

While the batting proved that Saifuddin was a genuine contender in the troublesome number seven position, his bowling in the two matches suggest that after a stop-start career, he has truly arrived in international cricket.

After remaining wicket-less in the first ODI, when he conceded just 29 runs from his seven overs -- which  included a maiden -- the 21-year-old eventually proved his worth with the ball yesterday.

The cricketer from Feni bowled with good pace and managed to maintain a tight line and length. He managed to undo Zimbabwe skipper and opener Hamilton Masakadza with a beautiful delivery which shaped away after pitching and took the outside edge.

He has also developed a good slower delivery and at times Saifuddin uses his slower bouncers to good effect. The youngster however still needs to improve the consistency as his line and length can at times go awry.

But he has come a long way from the confidence destruction of being struck for five consecutive sixes by David Miller during the second T20I against South Africa one year ago to the week. Since losing his place the youngster may have realised the steep step up to stay at top-level cricket and will look to improve every day.

It will be important for Saifuddin to know his strengths and weaknesses. It is still early days and there may be questions about the strength of the opposition, but Saifuddin has taken the first step in fulfilling his promise.