Mustafiz can’t bowl yorkers anymore, says Habibul Bashar

Bangladesh national team selector Habibul Bashar believes that left-arm fast-bowler Mustafizur Rahman has lost the ability to bowl yorkers.

2019 has been the worst year in terms of numbers for the man who is nicknamed the Fizz, because of his cutters and variations and Bashar believes that Mustafiz has become too predictable as a result of losing his ability to bowl yorkers.

"Mustafiz has been missing for the last one year. Yorkers are missing in his bowling now. He had a brilliant yorker in his arc earlier. He still has the slower ball, his pace is increasing gradually. He bowls at a quite good pace now, but the yorker is missing. He has become a bit too predictable. This is my concern. Batsmen are able to read him better now," Bashar told the media.

The former national team captain believes Mustafiz needs to work more on his bowling and come up with new methods to flummox the batsmen, as they have found it easier to read him in recent times.

"What I feel is he needs to think more. It's high time for him to think about the matter that batsmen are reading him. Maybe the coach will tell him. But it is important for the cricketers to understand how to bowl. He bowled brilliantly in his first two overs yesterday (on Wednesday) but was predictable in the last two. He continuously bowled in the same length and went for runs. (Dasun) Shanaka is a brilliant batsman in T20 and Mustafiz was not trying anything different," Bashar added.

Bashar admitted that the team relied on Mustafiz to do well as he is an exceptional talent and him doing well helps the rest of the bowlers.

Despite Mustafiz being among the wickets, he has become gradually expensive – even at the death overs – and that has been an area where Mustafiz was always good.

"It is a problem for everyone. He is still getting wickets, he is the highest wicket-taker for us in the last year. But he is getting expensive, even at the death. He is our main death bowler; if he concedes too much it puts the whole team under pressure. He is a special bowler, so we want a bit more from him. If he gets expensive, it is tough to cover up for the others," Bashar explained.

Dawid Malan, the English batsman currently playing for Cumilla Warriors is looking forward to continue their winning trend as they take on Dhaka Platoon.

"So we are up against Dhaka next. On paper, they are a very good team and a very good bowling attack. So we have to improve the way we batted and our captain (Dasun Shanaka) played exceptionally well in the first game. He got us to 174. Rest of us have to play little bit better against this Dhaka team. But it is a good sign we didn't play as well as we could but still we won the first game," explained Malan.

The right-handed batsman who is used to playing under much different conditions in England has explained that it's not been difficult to adjust to the conditions in Bangladesh, especially because of his past experience of playing the Dhaka Premier League and the Bangladesh Premier League.

"I wouldn't say it's hard to adapt. You came across the coaches and so on in different tournaments. You know, in this team, I have played with half of this team either in Dhaka Premier League or Bangladesh Premier League. So I know all of them. It's not as hard as you think. It's hard to gel as a team and work hard with people to make a good combination. It will be challenge for first three-four games in the tournament," he concluded.