'I always keep my cool'

Mustafizur Rahman

At no point of the match yesterday did Mustafizur Rahman let the batsmen dominate him. When Rohit Sharma pulled him for a six in the early stages of the match, he came back with his off-cutter to produce an edge in the very next ball.

A collision with Mahendra Singh Dhoni could have knocked anyone unconscious, Mustafizur, though had different plans. While he did leave the field temporarily, he came back to complete a superb five-wicket haul.

When he was brought on in the Powerplay overs as a replacement for Rubel Hossain, Suresh Raina greeted him with an astounding six over covers. Any other debutant would have probably found it difficult to even stick to a right line after that hit. But Mustafizur came back with yet another off-cutter to uproot Raina's stumps. He followed that with Ravi Ashwin's wicket with the next ball.

There were few players on the field that had to deal with the amount of brunt that Mustafizur went through yesterday and yet, at no point of the match did he seem uncomfortable. He was as calm as ever; almost as though he had found a new home to live in.

However, the moment Mustafizur stepped outside the field, a different shade took over him. He was shy and barely looked in control during the press conference.

Some of the questions were answered in one line, whereas the others were met with an innocent face. By the end of the press conference, he was helplessly looking at his captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and BCB media manager Rabeed Imam for some help.

The journalists though didn't mind. Those may have been one-line answers, but they were gold, considering the fact that this young man had almost single-handedly outfoxed one of the best batting line-ups of the world on a batting-friendly pitch.

"The fact that I was playing with India in itself was very exciting. The five-wicket haul felt good," said Mustafizur.

Despite a relatively quiet press conference, Mustafizur did manage to reveal the secret behind his off-cutters.

"When I bowled in the under-19 level I could swing the ball. Then one day [Anamul Haque] Bijoy bhai asked me if I could cut the ball. I tried doing that and surprisingly, got him out with that delivery," laughed Mustafizur.

A rare left-arm pacer in Bangladesh's cricket, the 19-year-old only began playing first-class cricket a year back. In fact, only four years ago, he used to travel 40 kms every day from his village in Tetulia to Satkhira on a scooter with his brother, in order to play for a club there.

It was his brother Mogleshur Rahman, who first asked him to take part in an inter-district pacer hunt in Satkhira, which initiated his career.

"I want to thank my brother for all that he has done. I want to thank my entire family actually," Mustafizur quietly muttered.

A fan of Pakistan's Mohammad Aamer, when Mustafizur was asked if he used any special tactic to stay calm on the field, he merely answered the question in one line: 'I always keep my cool.'

He also played down the collision that he had on the field with India captain Dhoni. "I was standing in the line when that happened. We talked later and sorted it out," he said.