Swing it like Shoriful

Shoriful Islam could have easily got his maiden five-wicket haul had he found some support from the fielders in the first T20I between Bangladesh and New Zealand in Napier. His expression after the ball fell between two confused fielders soon became a meme material.

We have, in the past, seen such expressions many times from his fellow paceman Taskin Ahmed when catches were dropped off him. That incident in the field was a kind of a reminder that Shoriful this year has slowly stepped into Taskin's shoes and emerged as the leader of the Bangladesh bowling attack across formats.

Shoriful is taller than any other fast bowler in the team and his aggression and an unusually long follow-through added a new dimension to the Bangladesh bowling line-up. But when he started, the pace was not really up to the mark and he could not swing the ball at will. On top of that, he used to go for runs.

For the first couple of years in the team, he was always part of the set-up but was in and out of the playing XI. The left-arm seamer worked closely with Allan Donald, the team's former pace bowling coach, and sharpened his skills over the last 12 months or so.

He has since  added some extra yards of pace and the most eye-catching attribute of his bowling has been the swing he gets now with the ball invariably across formats.

His ability to bring the ball back into the right-handers sets him apart from his fellow left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman, who cannot do this on a regular basis. Shoriful's ability to get the revamped Kookaburra ball to swing and seam has made him Bangladesh's most lethal weapon up front. 

Often we see Bangladesh play a solitary seamer in Tests when the pitch is spin-friendly. 

Right now, Shoriful is the name on the team sheet if the team takes that route because he is someone who can utilise whatever help there is on the pitch with the new ball in the longest format. 

The spinners of two sides hogged the limelight in the recently-concluded Test series between Bangladesh and New Zealand but amid all that, Shoriful picked up five wickets at 18.2 and struck every 5.3 overs in the series on slow, low decks. 

He has been the pick of the bowlers for the Tigers in the ongoing New Zealand tour as well. He finished the ODI series as the highest wicket-taker and is currently leading the T20I chart as well. He picked up three-wicket hauls in Bangladesh's both white-ball victories in Napier.

A superb new-ball bowler, Shoriful has improved his bowling in the other two phases of the game too. He has a pretty good bouncer and a decent slower ball with which he often provides breakthroughs in the middle and slog overs. 

Shoriful has the best average (24.87) and strike-rate (27.1) by any Bangladeshi bowler in 2023 in ODIs. 

In the second T20I against New Zealand, Shoriful got dasher Finn Allen out for the fifth time in international cricket. It was also his 50th wicket this year across formats and he is the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in international cricket this year.

With Taskin out injured and Mustafizur not really at his best, Shoriful now has the responsibility of leading the attack and he has done that with conviction so far.