Fizz's special wicket

Birthday boy Mustafizur Rahman took the prized wicket of David Warner with a chest-high snorter and courtesy of a juggling catch at gully. That brought new life and energy in the Tigers' camp as they fought back on the third day of the second and final Test at Chittagong yesterday. Mathew Wade then missed a straight delivery to be trapped in front and became the Mustafizur's second victim of the day.

His success and Mehedi Hasan Miraz's three-wicket haul made sure that Australia could not bat the home side out of contention despite having a useful 72-run lead with one wicket in hand at stumps. Apart from the team's comeback the performance of Mustafizur, who was deprived of another wicket as Mehedi dropped a sitter at gully to give Maxwell a life, was certainly refreshing for the team management as everyone was searching for an answer about his efficacy.

The 22-year old left-arm pacer generated good pace and bounce, bowled better lengths and there were some hints of reverse-swing. His well-directed bouncers, especially against Glenn Maxwell, were nice to watch. Later Mustafizur, who became popular as a cutter master, confirmed that all of that were the result of his endeavour to find new tricks and he also disclosed that he had a special plan for Warner: "I dismissed him as per my plan and it's a special wicket in my career.

"I usually don't bowl bouncers. I have only played for two years so I am trying to land two bouncers in an over. I have trained for a little while so I haven't got the hang of it yet," informed the pacer during the post-day press briefing at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

 "I have to find a new variation. I have the cutter but now I have to do something new," was the straightforward reply from the boy from Satkhira when asked about the fact that everyone studies him now. "I am bowling faster but I have to do something about the line and length."

Why was he so charged up yesterday?

"Mushfiqur bhai [captain Mushfiqur Rahim] and coach [Chandika Hathurusingha] had urged us to find wickets in the morning briefing. We just got two wickets out of 60 overs yesterday [Tuesday]. They asked me to give extra effort," was the simple explanation.

Mustafizur said that he has no expertise or experience on the pitch, only revealing that nothing is impossible for Bangladesh if they can play well and set a big target.

In the end it was a good birthday celebration for Mustafizur as he not only triumphed over his Sunrisers Hyderabad captain but also got a wish from him in the Whatsapp group for the IPL team.