Taking a closer look at Afif Hossain

Young, self-assured and laid-back, Afif Hossain first made a mark in the Bangladesh cricketing arena when he took a five-for at the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for the Rajshahi Kings in 2016.

He was 17-years-old back then and made the record for being the youngest bowler to take a fifer in the T20 tournament. 

Fans were expecting him to quickly break into the national team but that wasn't to be as he was far from the finished article.

There were moments that showed glimpses of his talent but the consistency was still missing.

Afif honed his skills in the BKSP, the same academy that produced the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim. 

The left-hander, however, is primarily a batting all-rounder who usually opens the innings for the Bangladesh U-19 team. 

He bats aggressively and many have likened his swashbuckling style of play to the early batting of Tamim Iqbal. 

That was on full display in the first T20I against Zimbabwe where he scored a quickfire fifty and took the game away from the visitors. 

First-class and U-19 career highlights

He made his first-class debut for East Zone in the 2016–17 Bangladesh Cricket League on 11 February 2017. 

In that game he opened the batting and immediately made a mark as he scored 105 in the first innings and was named player-of-the-match.

Another notable performance came on 5th June 2017, in the 2016–17 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, where he took a hat-trick playing for Abahani Limited.

He had a similarly successful time in the U-19 team as in the 2018 U-19 World Cup, he was the leading run-scorer for Bangladesh with 276 runs.

That performance led him to be named the "Rising Star" of the squad by the International Cricket Council (ICC). 

Career in numbers

In first class cricket, Afif has so far played 18 games with an average of 30.55 with the bat and scored 825 runs with a highest score of 142. 

He has four centuries and two fifties to his name as well. 

With the ball however, it has been a struggle so far as he has managed 18 wickets at an average of 47.16. 

He has played 43 List A games and scored 1006 runs at an average of 32.45 and a strike rate of 81.98.

With the ball however, he has once again under-performed taking 20 wickets at an average of 45.20. 

In T20's though, his bowling has been better as he has taken 15 wickets at an average of 23 from 21 innings but his economy of 8.80 is poor. 

The batting has been good in patches as he has scored 561 T20 runs from 28 innings at a strike rate of 127.79 with three fifties. 

But that average of 22.44 with the bat is something he would want to work on.   

Now it finally seems like he's matured more and can help the national team with the bat, and hopefully with the ball too. 

One thing is for sure, he will be getting regular chances in the T20I team, and a flurry of good performances here can help him break into the other - ODI and Test - teams as well.