Pace bowler from Bangladesh, Shoriful Islam lately made a compelling statement on the countryman Mustafizur Rahman club vs country debate, where Islam mentioned that the left-arm seamer likes playing in the IPL more than country matches because of the low pressure associated here in IPL than for Bangladesh. This country vs club debate was outrageous because BCB cricket operations’ Jalal Yunus raised the question of the betterment of playing in the IPL rather than for Bangladesh.
Yunus and Akram Khan drew a distinction on Mustafizur Rahman playing in the IPL, where Akram considered that the seamer would benefit from playing in the tournament which in return would help Bangladesh too. On the other hand, Yunus firmly believes that IPL players can learn a thing or two from Mustafizur but he would not learn anything.
In the meantime, Shoriful Islam suggested that there is more to be expected when playing for Bangladesh while following the pressure that could latch behind him in case of underperformance. As stated by Cricbuzz, the 22-year-old alleged that:
“I watch every game and every ball Mustafizur bowls. I talk to him the day after the matches. I think he [ Mustafizur] enjoys playing in the IPL more than playing for the Bangladesh team. It is because the pressure is less there. Perhaps, there are a lot of expectations when playing for Bangladesh and you come under immense pressure if you don’t play well”.
The 28-year-old had a very promising performance in this IPL season from Chennai Super Kings ( CSK ), where the franchise auctioned him for 2 crore. He is also the leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets from 6 matches at 20.54.
Mustafizur Rahman couldn’t meet the expectations in the last one or two games’ – Shoriful Islam
Shoriful Islam also highlighted Mustafizur’s inconsistency regarding his previous few international games, by further mentioning:
“He (Mustafizur) is performing regularly. It is just that he has been unable to perform in the last two or three games (for the national team). What I mean by pressure is that everyone’s expectations are quite high because of his performance over the last couple of years. Perhaps he couldn’t meet the expectations in the last one two games”.
Mustafizur Rahman could definitely be Bangladesh’s one of the top key bowlers in the approaching T20 World Cup.