Mohammad Saifuddin

Mohammad Saifuddin is another young fast-bowling prodigy hailing from Bangladesh. The youngster is a right-arm fast-bowler and a lower-order left-handed batsman. The mentally strong all-rounder made his name during the U-19 World Cup of 2016 but his bowling action got suspected just after the tournament. However, Saifuddin made his way out to play the game at the highest level from there. 

Saifuddin's tale is worth telling, beginning from a small city called Feni in Chattogram. He started playing the sport at a very young age and represented his state at the U-15 and U-17 levels. In December 2015, the Chittagong cricketer got selected for the U19 World Cup and bagged 13 wickets in his six outings. 

After the tournament, the youngster got injured and his bowling action was also suspected during the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. However, the prodigy found his way out and upwards. The Feni-born was his club's leading wicket-taker in the 2017–18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League with 14 dismissals to his name. 

He received his maiden international call-up for the T20I tour of Sri Lanka and made his debut against the Lankans at Colombo in March 2017. Post his debut series, he was selected for the South African tour where he played his maiden ODI at Kimberley. 

Saifuddin had a degrading time in South Africa where he was too expensive to bag a single wicket in the ODIs and he got David Miller’s bashing a T20I game. The South African robbed 31 runs off the pacer in an over and failed to prove his mettle in the following matches. He got dropped after that and made a remarkable comeback against Zimbabwe in 2018. 

The useful all-rounder was a way better and useful batter against Zimbabwe. He used a fine mix of slower bouncers, yorkers, and fuller deliveries to halt runs in the death overs. He also stitched a 127-run partnership with Imrul Kayes to impress his critics. 

He was remarkable in the series against West Indies, New Zealand, and Ireland to bag his berth in the 15-men squad for the 2019 World Cup, held in England. During the mega event, Saifuddin scalped 14 wickets in seven games and finished as Bangladesh’s second-highest wicket-taker. He was selected to bowl at the later end of the innings and executed his role perfectly. 

Mohammad Saifuddin is a handy all-rounder who can be a vital cog for Bangladesh cricket in the coming years. The all-rounder has skiddy action that makes him a difficult bowler to hit in the fag end and a well-capable batsman with a composed technique. If Saifuddin works on his batting and helps himself move up the order, he could surely serve Bangladesh for a very long time. 

(As of March 2021)