Ahead of the series against Ireland, Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusingha claimed that he was waitingto see Mustafizur Rahman returns back to his best.
The left-arm pace bowler hardly had shown enough promise in the recent past and there were murmurs whether he had passed his prime or not.
On Sunday against Ireland there was enough evidence from the experienced campaigner that he still has some magic left in him. He certainly looked too hot for the Irish batsmen to handle after being rested in the opening two games against Ireland that certainly had something to do with his present form.
Mustafizur, who returned with figures of four for 44, was adjudged the player-of-the-match, but more than that he looked to be enjoying his bowling despite being under pressure if not anything else.
Chasing 274, the hosts were cruising nicely at 223 for the loss of three wickets with set batters Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker at the crease they needed 51 runs off 54 balls to win when skipper Tamim Iqbal introduced part-time spinner Nazmul Hossain in the 42nd over and he eventually proved to be the golden arm. Mustafizur, who picked opener Stephen Doheny in his opening spell, looked like he kept his best for the death overs and it was the Fizz show from then onwards.
The left-arm pacer picked up three key wickets-- Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, and Lorcan Tucker-- in three overs and more importantly gave away only nine runs during those three overs to shift the scales in their favour.
Mustafizur demonstrated his death bowling prowess by removing Campher and Dockrell, both of them getting caught respectively at mid- off and cover as he tricked them through his variations, and when he bowled Tucker, his third wicket in successive overs, for exactly fifty, it sucked all the momentum out of the Ireland run chase.
After a long time, Mustafizur looked lot more proactive and he tried different things. He carried reasonable pace but more than that he tried to change his angle now and then and when necessary came round the wicket and over the wicket.
