Mustafizur Rahman

Early life

Mustafizur Rahman grew up in the small town of Shatkhira in Khulna Division, 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 40 kilometers away from home every morning, with his brother Mokhlesur Rahman. This affected his education as he occasionally skipped study 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.

Early career

In 2012, Rahman came to the 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.

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. 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. In the three matches he played, he took nine wickets including a five wicket haul against New Zealand. 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.

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.

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", being the first overseas player to receive this award.

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 swings the ball away. Rahman stated on a press conference in June 2015 that he first discovered the technique after his fellow cricketer, Anamul Haque insisted him to bowl a slower delivery.

Media and disciplinary record

Rahman was assisted by captain Mashrafe Mortaza to talk on post-match interview twice, and on a press conference once. Normally, he struggles to speak to the media and public.

In his first ODI match, Rahman collided with the Indian batsman MS Dhoni on two occasions while Dhoni was taking runs. The incident cost both men to be fined post-match.

Records and achievements

Mustafizur Rahman became the tenth bowler to take a five-wicket haul on ODI debut. He achieved the records of taking the most wickets (11) as well as the fourth player to be awarded Man of the match in the first two starting ODI matches.

Rahman took 13 wickets in a three-match bilateral ODI series, which is the highest as of 2017. He is the first player to win Man of the Match awards on both Test and ODI debuts.

The governing body of cricket, the International Cricket Council, included Rahman on the ICC ODI Team of the Year in 2015, recognizing him as one of the top cricketers of that year. He is the first Bangladeshi cricketer to achieve this and the second to be selected for any ICC team after Shakib Al Hasan. In December 2016, he was named the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year, becoming the first Bangladeshi player to win one of the ICC's annual awards. Rahman was also included as the 12th man in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 Men's Team of the Tournament. He won the ESPNcricinfo Award for the Best T20 performance of the year 2016 for his maiden T20I five-wicket haul against New Zealand during the World T20.

Rahman also won the Best Athlete of the Year Award from the Bangladesh Sports Press Association (BSPA) of the year 2015.