Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman was optimistic to regain the tag as the country's most talented pace bowler across the format and his Test spot despite being left out of Bangladesh’s latest list of contracted players for the longest format of the game.
He had been considered Bangladesh’s most talented pace bowler across formats a few years ago, but the bowler is now struggling to even save his place in the national XI especially after undergoing shoulder surgery in August 2016.
It’s been one year when the left-arm played last Test match for Bangladesh in New Zealand in March 2019 and since then hasn't been able to break it into Test XI and even he lost his red-ball contract.
Mustafizur was also demoted to B category in the white-ball national contract, though, the pacer sees it as a blessing in disguise for him as he is eager to improve his game to be counted again one of the best.
According to Cricbuzz, Mustafizur told reporters in Dhaka on Wednesday (March 18): “It's good for me because now I've understood that I need to improve as I will not be able to make it in the team with what I have. Now I will try to improve so that I can take my bowling to the next level and so that I can play in all formats. I can make a comeback in the Test team only if my hands start to work better.”
He further said: “Now I am trying something new because now everyone knows about me. At first, they didn't know about me and I could easily get a wicket but now it has been a bit difficult for me.”
Revealing his overseas struggle, Mustafizur admitted he has lost his confidence with his toe-crushing Yorkers. He added, “The ball grips well on home wickets but outside it is not the same while the off-cutter changes its direction quite well at home but that is not the case elsewhere.”
The bowler continued, “There are some wickets where, after having a look, you can say that it will produce 350 runs while there will be others with 250 runs. That 250-run wickets have been good for me but sometimes there will be bad days and on such cases, even a favorable wicket may not help me. Now, there will always be ups and downs in cricket, you have to accept that.”
Meanwhile, Mustafizur admitted that he was losing confidence with his indifferent form with the ball but he is optimistic to find his mojo again.
He added, “My yorker is not the same as I used to deliver and I don't have that confidence [anymore], but I'm trying. I think there is a problem somewhere. Now it's going great again but still, I do not get that confidence. I think there is something with my hand. I feel more practice is required because I have to make myself better since It's been a while since I've produced something impressive.”
Revealing about his new skill to get success in the ODI cricket, the speedster said: “Especially in the first 10 overs of the ODIs, I tried to get the ball into the batsman and though it was not that huge but a couple of deliveries were very good. It won't happen in one day. I worked for two weeks and hopefully will get better day by day.”
Mustafizur also revealed that the new bowling coach Ottis Gibson has suggested to him how to grip the bowl but didn’t advise anything about his wrist position. He signed off by saying, “I worked with Ottis Gibson but he did not give too many suggestions. He only showed me how to grip but didn't say anything about my hand position but asked me to keep the wrist firm and in the right position.”
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
