Saifuddin’s near-perfect comeback

After a gap of almost one-and-a-half years, Mohammad Saifuddin returned to national colours in the first Twenty20 International against Zimbabwe yesterday and had an almost perfect outing on his comeback match.

The medium pacer finished with impressive figures of 3-15 in his four overs, conceding just one more run than from fellow pacer Taskin Ahmed, who also claimed three Zimbabwe wickets as the pace duo led the charge for the Tigers in bowling out the visitors for a mere 124.

The road back to the national team has been a long and winding one for Saifuddin, as the pace-bowling all-rounder has long been suffering from a chronic back injury which has kept him on the shelf for long periods over the years.

The injury troubles kept him out of contention for a place in last year's ODI World Cup and kept him out of action for the initial stage of this year's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

But fortune started to turn for Saifuddin as he made his way into the Fortune Barishal squad mid-tournament and finished fourth in the wicket-takers' list, claiming 15 wickets in just nine games.

In spite of his sparkling showing, the selectors chose not to pick him for the Sri Lanka series in March-April.

Saifuddin then turned up for 10 games for Abahani in the List A competition, Dhaka Premier League, where he claimed 13 wickets and also accumulated 101 runs in four innings, which included a 15-ball 29 against Gazi Tyres Cricket Club.

He was picked for the first three T20Is against Zimbabwe and his performance with the ball would give the management belief that Saifuddin could be the pace-bowling all-rounder option for the Tigers in the World Cup, something the team have been searching for.

Yesterday, Saifuddin's first scalp of the match in the last ball of fifth over initiated the dramatic collapse for Zimbabwe, as the visitors lost six wickets for five runs inside 17 balls to be left teetering at 41-7 after 7.4 overs.

The right-arm pacer could count himself lucky with his first wicket of the day as debutant opener Joylord Gumbie (17 off 14 balls) hit a ball that was going down the leg side straight into the hands of Taskin Ahmed.

Luke Jongwe (two off six) was his second victim, as the batter got caught at mid-on, trying to pull a ball which was outside his off-stump.

Saifuddin claimed his third wicket of the day with a signature yorker against Blessing Muzarabani (one off two) and almost finished with his best ever figures in T20Is.

In the final ball of the innings, the 27-year-old deceived Masakadza with a slower delivery, which he tried to scoop over the in-field but could only hit it to the short-leg fielder who caught it.

However, his celebrations were cut-short as the TV umpire notified the on-field umpire that Saifuddin had overstepped and had to re-ball the final delivery, which meant the 4-33 he had claimed against Afghanistan in Mirpur back in 2019 remains his best-ever figure in T20Is.