Cutter Master: On this day six years back, Mustafiz announced his arrival in style
On the 10th anniversary of Bangladesh's famous win over Australia in Cardiff, the Tigers thumped a full-strength Indian team in front of a raucous Mirpur crowd thanks to then 19-year-old Mustafizur Rahman who picked up 5 for 50 on his ODI debut to become the only second Bangladeshi bowler to bag a five-for on ODI debut.
Mustafizur Rahman had a scintillating ODI debut against India at Mirpur on June 18, 2015.
On the 10th anniversary of Bangladesh's famous win over Australia in Cardiff, the Tigers thumped a full-strength Indian team in front of a raucous Mirpur crowd thanks to then 19-year-old Mustafizur Rahman who picked up 5 for 50 on his ODI debut to become the only second Bangladeshi bowler to bag a five-for on ODI debut.
His performance came after a rapid 102-run opening stand between Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar had formed the centrepiece of Bangladesh's 307, their highest against India in ODIs.
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This was Bangladesh's ninth straight win at home, but for the first 15 overs of the second innings, it seemed the streak would be broken. After an impressive start by Mustafizur and Taskin, Bangladesh looked like they were buckling under the experience and the class of the Indian batting. Rohit Sharma settled down and brought up his fifty off 53 balls, and Shikhar Dhawan was dropped twice by Mushfiqur Rahim.
Before Mustafiz began showing his cutter-magic, he had to leave the field in the middle of the innings after colliding with MS Dhoni. It looked more like a street clash and Mustafiz was hurt.
Bangladesh celebrated angrily when Shakib drew an edge from Dhoni, which Mushfiqur took beautifully to redeem himself after the earlier drops.
If there was indignation palpable at the man who knocked out their hero of the night, Bangladesh found a poetic end as Mustafizur returned to snuff out whatever remote chance India had by dismissing Suresh Raina and R Ashwin off successive balls.
He could have become only the second bowler after Fidel Edwards to claim a six-for on ODI debut had he hung onto a return catch off his penultimate delivery. However, he had done enough and finished with outstanding figures of 9.2-1-50-5.
Earlier, Bangladesh scored a massive total of 307 in 49.4 overs with top scorer Tamim Iqbal bagging 60 off 62-balls including 7-fours and a six. Soumya Sarkar scored 54 off 40-balls which included eight-fours and a six, Shakib Al Hasan scored 52 with three boundaries, Sabbir Rahman 41 and Nasir Hossain 34.
Bangladesh went on to win the series and Mustafiz bagged 13 wickets in the series in three matches. He picked up a six-for in the very next match to seal the series for Bangladesh.
