Mustafizur Rahman


Mustafizur Rahman is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. He is specialized as a left-arm fast-medium bowler. He has taken the most wickets in a debut One Day International series. He is the first player to win the ‘Man of the Match’ award on both Test as well as ODI debuts.
Rahman made his international cricket debut in a Twenty20 International match against Pakistan in April 2015. Later that year, he played his first One Day International and Test matches against India and South Africa, respectively.
Before his international career, Rahman played in the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He also represented Dhaka Dynamites in the 2015 Bangladesh Premier League and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2016 Indian Premier League.

Early and personal life

Mustafizur Rahman grew up in the small town of Satkhira in Khulna, Bangladesh. He is the youngest of Abul Qasem Gazi and Mahmuda Khatun's six children. His father is an enthusiastic fan of cricket. Rahman's interest in cricket rose when he started practicing the game away from home every morning, with his brother Mokhlesur Rahman. This affected his education as he occasionally missed school to play cricket.
Prior to discovering his bowling talents, Rahman played as a batsman with a tennis ball. According to him, he took inspiration from Pakistani pacer Mohammad Amir, who is his idol.
On 15 March 2019, along with several members of the Bangladesh test team, he was moments from entering the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand when a terrorist attack began. All members of the team were "deeply affected". Rahman went on to get married on 22 March. Rahman's brother was hopeful that marriage could help him "overcome the shock" of witnessing the attack in New Zealand.

Early career

In 2012, Rahman 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 his hometown. 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.
Rahman 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, India toured Bangladesh for one Test and three One Day Internationals. Rahman was picked in the ODI squad. In his first match of the series, Rahman 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 Rahman became the tenth bowler in the history of ODIs to take five wickets on debut. In the second ODI, Rahman 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, Rahman 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. Rahman 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 both sides sharing a win. The next year in January, Bangladesh again played with Zimbabwe in four T20s. Rahman 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 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 after taking five wickets for 22 runs against New Zealand. He took total of 9 wickets in three matches in the 2016 edition. He was named as 12th man in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2016 T20 World Cup by the ICC.
Rahman was again unable to play all matches when Bangladesh toured New Zealand during December 2016 and January 2017. He played his first Test match since August 2015 against Sri Lanka at Galle in March 2017, taking eight wickets in the series.
In April 2018, he was one of ten cricketers to be awarded a central contract by the Bangladesh Cricket Board ahead of the 2018 season.
On 29 May 2018, Rahman was ruled out of an upcoming three-match T20I series against Afghanistan due to a toe injury.

2019 Cricket World Cup

In April 2019, he was named in Bangladesh's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 5 July 2019, in the match against Pakistan, Mustafizur took his 100th wicket in ODIs. He finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh, with twenty dismissals in eight matches. Following the World Cup, the International Cricket Council named Mustafizur as the rising star of the squad.

Domestic career

Bangladesh Premier League

Rahman's first professional Twenty20 career outside international cricket was the Bangladesh Premier League, where he played for Dhaka Dynamites in its 2015 season. He took 14 wickets in 10 matches in that tournament. In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Rajshahi Kings team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League. In November 2019, he was selected to play for the Rangpur Rangers in the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League.

Indian Premier League

In the Indian Premier League auction of the 2016 season, Rahman was drafted by Sunrisers Hyderabad. He took 17 wickets in 16 matches in the tournament where his team won the title. He was named as "Emerging Player of the Tournament", the first overseas player to receive this award.
In January 2018, he was bought by the Mumbai Indians in the 2018 IPL auction.

NatWest T20 Blast

In March 2016, English side Sussex announced that they had signed Rahman as their second overseas player for the T20 Blast competition.
He picked up four wickets while giving away 23 runs in his debut match against Essex. After another match, he faced a shoulder surgery which sidelined him for six months.

Pakistan Super League

Mustafizur was selected by Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League. The BCB was reluctant to let him play there. However, the issue was resolved when Rahman got a shoulder injury in early 2016, thus preventing him from playing in the PSL.

Playing style

Rahman achieved success in the beginning of his international career by bowling off cutters, a type of bowling which moves away off of the pitch. Rahman stated on a press conference in June 2015 that he first discovered the technique after his fellow cricketer, Anamul Haque insisted he bowl a slower delivery.

Records and achievements