It is tougher to get wickets now: Mustafiz

Mustafizur Rahman was Bangladesh's golden boy when he first came into the national side. He wreaked havoc against India and impressed throughout the year. 

But for the past year and a half, Mustafiz is a shadow of what he was. Despite being the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in the World Cup with 20 wickets, he has failed to reciprocate his past heroics. He has often leaked too many runs and has found it tough to pick wickets, which he earlier did with utter ease. 

Mustafiz himself also has accepted the fact that he feels that getting wickets has become tougher for him than his earlier days.

"I try to do my best on the field. Everybody knows about me now. Previously, I got wickets easily. Now it feels tough," he said. 

He further added, "I do not feel too bad about losing my glory, I feel that I have done something for the country. People take it in many ways, the media say a lot of things. I try to do whatever is required to go back to those days."

Mustafiz has been dropped from the board's red-ball contract and head coach Russell Domingo has said it openly that he will not return to the side until he learns how to bring the ball back into the right-hander. 

Mustafiz though wants to play in all formats and believes that if he keeps on working, he might be considered for all three formats soon. He also said that he has been working with the new fast bowling coach Ottis Gibson about the inswinger and tried it out in the Zimbabwe series. 

"I think the work regarding my inswinger is going well until now. I tried in my first spells against Zimbabwe to bring the ball back in. It did not do too much, but a couple of balls came close. It is still a work in progress, it will not happen overnight. I have worked on the inswingers for only a couple of weeks with the new coach (Ottis Gibson)," Mustafiz added. 

Mustafiz also informed that he had done nothing special with the Caribbean coach yet and Ottis has just shown him a new grip and some wrist positions. 

Mustafiz has been dropped in recent times and he believes that it is good for him because it helps him improve his game.
"It is good for me to get dropped because it helps me to understand that I need to improve. That I am not good enough with what I have," the 24-year old added. 

Bangladesh's recent World Cup-winning Under-19 seamers have shown a lot of promise. Mustafiz said that it was good for everyone that they are competing for a place in the side.

"I came into the national side at 20-21 (19) years of age, Shoriful is also around that age. If someone else comes to the team, it is good for us. We have all have a goal, whoever does well, will be there. If everybody competes together (for a place in the team), it is good for everyone," he added. 

Mustafiz also added that he was not confident enough with his yorker and had to work more on that. And to regain his lost confidence, he will have to accept the fact that there are ups and downs in life. 

"Low-scoring wickets are better suited for me, where the ball grips a bit on the wicket. There are ups and downs, I have to accept it. If I don't, I can never be a great player," the left-arm seamer said. 

There has been a change in captaincy for Bangladesh too as Tamim Iqbal has succeeded Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as the new ODI skipper. Mustafiz believes that Tamim knows him and everything will follow regular procedure after a couple of matches. 

"Tamim bhai has seen me since I came into the national team. Why will he not understand my needs? It will become alright after a couple of matches," the 'Fizz' said.