What happened to Mustafiz, Bangladesh's first-choice quick?

 
Mustafiz has been the pace spearhead of Bangladesh pace attack since Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said good bye to international cricket and ever since his debut, Mustafizur Rahman - a name that carries a lot of expectations.

However, nowadays it seems the left-arm fast bowler gradually faded away as batsmen can easily pick his deliveries which clearly suggest he needs to improve and bring new variation in his bowling particularly swing bowling to increase the edge in his bowling.

With the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia is on the cards, Bangladesh will heavily depend on Mustafiz's bowling considering the pace and bouncy surface in Australia. However, the major concern is Mustafiz has been going through a lean patch in international cricket for a long time now.

Mustafiz first drew to the attention with his magnificent cutter ball and since then he has been Bangladesh's first-choice quick in limited over cricket with his key strengths in the shorter formats being the off-cutter. But he could not reign for long with just one option.  Because of the help of technology, cricketers from other countries have mastered the game of cutting the ball of this left-arm pacer. As well as after retuning back from surgery he couldn't not strike back like before. The team management is also frustrated with his recent expensive bowling. He even failed to live up to the expectations in Asia Cup. The 27-year old pacer claimed 12 wickets from last 10 matches so far but the major concern seems to be his economy rate as he is leaking runs quite regularly, 8.50 to be precise.

He gave 9.25 and 13.50 runs per over in the second and third matches respectively in West Indies series. Although he finished his quota in the second match but the captain did not let him finish the quota in the third match. Because he was wicketless in that match. Then the left-arm pacer conceded 12.50, 7.50 and 5.50 runs per over respectively in the three matches series in Zimbabwe and took four wickets. Bangladesh conceded series defeat in West Indies and Zimbabwe before Asia Cup.

Mustafiz considered one of the key bowlers at the death overs but he frustrated everyone in Bangladesh's first game in Asia Cup against Sri Lanka giving 17 runs in crucial over that changed the complexion of the game. He was rhythmless too in the second match, taking one wicket for 32 runs in 4 overs.  Mustafizur was considered Bangladesh's most talented pacer across formats only a few years ago since picking up 13 wickets during the Tigers' home series against India 2015 which helped Bangladesh clinch their maiden ODI series win over India. He followed it up with pivotal roles in ODI series wins over South Africa and Zimbabwe and he also became the first Bangladeshi cricketer to feature in the ICC's ODI team of the year for 2015.

Mustafizur nicknamed 'Fizz', later bagged an Indian Premier League (IPL) contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad and played a key role in the Sunrisers' maiden IPL trophy win and also finished with the tournament's Emerging Player award.

However, he is an ideal bowler in slow and low track and his utmost achievements came in slow wickets with his off-cutter and Yorkers which was enough for him to dominate the best batsmen in the world. But he had a reality check in the recent past whenever it's a batting track and he has to understand that having success consistently in cricket requires a slightly different mindset with variations. During Bangladesh's recent past series in batting surface in West Indies and Zimbabwe, Mustafiz was struggling to bring out his slower ball, or the off cutter, the weapon that had once made him a lethal bowler as Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl or Najibullah Zadran comfortably picked his delivery and smashed him.

All eyes will be on Mustafizur's bowling in upcoming T20 World Cup but it remains a question whether Mustafiz will repay the faith with back in form.