Mustafizur Rahman

When a bowler demolishes the mighty Indian lineup in his debut series then he becomes an overnight sensation in world cricket. Mustafizur Rahman, the morden-gen Bangladesh pace spearhead stunned the Indians in his first ODI series where he clinched 13 wickets in three-games, including two fifers in his first-two outings. 

The left-arm sensation hailing from a very small town called Satkhira, came to Dhaka to live his dream of becoming a fast bowler. He burst onto the scene during BCB’s pace foundation and then scouted for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in UAE. Rahman started both his first-class and List-A career in 2014 and then got fast-tracked to tour West Indies with Bangladesh-A. 

Slowly and steadily, the Satkhira-born worked on pace and added variations that led to his maiden national callup. Post the 2015 World Cup, he got included in the Bangladesh team for a T20I against Pakistan in April 2015, where his first two victims were Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez. Two months later, Rahman’s breakthrough moment came against touring India, where he started his ODI career with a six-wicket haul and followed it up with a five-wicket haul in his second ODI, to become the second bowler in ODI history to pick up two five-fers in his first two matches.

In July 2015, the southpaw got his maiden Test cap to play his first Test against South Africa where he was awarded the Man of the Match. Rahman’s slower cutters with his left-arm angle earned him an IPL contract from Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2016 season and ended the season with the “Emerging Player Award”. 

Rahman was part of Bangladesh’s squad for the 2016 World T20, but due to a slight side strain, the left-armer could only play three T20Is and scalped nine wickets during the course. After the ICC event, he was contracted by Sussex for the English domestic season. In England, the southpaw got his shoulder injured which sidelined him for six months.

In December 2016, he made a comeback to the international arena and toured New Zealand. For the IPL10, the Bangladeshi pacer joined the Hyderabad-based club in the later-half of the tournament as he wasn’t 100% fit. In the next season, Mumbai Indians bought Rahman but the season went below-par for the Bangladeshi. 

The lucrative pacer missed the 2019 edition of the IPL as BCB refused him to grant an NOC. However, the pacer enjoyed his time at the 2019 World Cup where he finished the event as the fourth-highest wicket-taker, with 20 scalps in eight games. Rahman missed the 2020 season of the Indian T20 league as well, due to the same NOC reason. 

In February 2021, Mustafizur Rahman was bought by Rajasthan Royal for the 14th edition of the much-awaited league and his national board has also given him a green signal to play the competition. Though, the pacer has stated he would skip the IPL, if BCB asks to play the Test series against Sri Lanka. 

(As of March 2021)