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Mustafiz working on his swing: Gibson


Bangladeshpost
Published : 09 May 2020 06:08 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 05:59 PM

Ottis Gibson, Bangladesh's pace bowling coach, believes that pacer Mustafizur Rahman still has a role to play in Test cricket, reports cricbuzz. 

While Gibson thought that Mustafizur needed to develop two mindsets, head coach Russell Domingo insisted that the pacer needed to do some technical work before making it in the longer format, given his axing from the Test contract list. 

He was only handed a partial contract for white-ball cricket, and subsequently was left out of Bangladesh's Test squad for the first time during their tour of against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in February.

The left-arm bowler, who made his Test debut versus South Africa in 2015, has played just 13 Tests picking up 28 wickets, but his exploits in the longer version remained quite ordinary considering his impressive record in limited-overs cricket, with one of his key strengths in the shorter formats being the off-cutter. 

He then failed to earn a spot in the playing XI in the two-match Test series against India before being axed in the following series against Pakistan. 

And though he was included in the squad for the one-off Test against Zimbabwe, Domingo explained to Cricbuzz that he was included as he wanted him to do some work with Gibson and not because they want him to feature in the longer format.

Gibson, who replaced Charl Langeveldt in January after the South African resigned from the post in December to join his national team in the same capacity, felt that the left-arm pacer has the ability to make his presence felt in the longer format. 

"Yeah I think Fizz's still got the depth and he still got the role to play in Test cricket," Gibson told Cricbuzz. "The interesting thing about Fizz is he played lots of white-ball cricket when he first started. 

He played some Tests but white-ball cricket more and that needs lots of variations and it can have an effect in Test bowling skills because the mindset is different. So he has to develop two sets of mindset," he said.

"You have to focus on line and length for over after over in Test cricket while in white-ball you have to be unpredictable and use all your variations and skills, so the two sets of skills are very different. In Test cricket you don't have to be the quickest but more accurate and swing the ball, either in the air or off the wicket," he added.

Mustafizur, who was considered Bangladesh's most talented pacer across formats only a few years ago, last played a Test in New Zealand in March 2019 and has been on the sidelines since then. 

While he said that he is keen on making a comeback after the red-ball snub, he also revealed that he is trying to improve his skill of making the ball come into the batsman as he feels it can be added as a variation.