Is time running out for Mustafizur in ODIs?

Fizz is back!!

It is probably one of the most used phrases in the cricketing fraternity of Bangladesh and one could hear it again when he took the wicket of Janith Liyanage in the second ODI against Sri Lanka during the death overs when he was looking to take the game away with a breezy fifty.

Mustafizur brought the tourists back into the game by giving away just one run in the 46th over and followed it up by taking the important wicket of Liyanage in the next over. Those two overs surely changed the complexion of the match but does that really suggest he got his magic back in ODIs? Is he still an automatic starter in the format? Not to forget he had an ordinary outing in the very next game which was a series decider.

Taking statistics into consideration, his form is declining compared to other fast bowlers of Bangladesh since the 2023 World Cup. Mustafizur played 19 ODIs since the 2023 World Cup and picked up 19 wickets with an economy rate of 5.69 while Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam picked 27 and 23 wickets during this timeframe, playing fewer matches and Tanzim Hasan Shakib is also close behind with 17 wickets in 11 matches.

ODIs are pretty much divided into three phases - first 10 overs with the new ball, middle overs from 11 to 40, and death overs from 41 to 50. Mustafizur has bowled 29 overs in 14 innings with the new ball, taking 4 wickets at an economy rate of 5.45 runs per over in the first 10 overs.

In the 19 ODIs, during the middle overs (from 11-40), the left-arm pacer has taken 11 wickets with an economy rate of 5.39 and a strike rate of 55.5 while he failed to pick any wickets in 10 matches out those 19. Mustafizur bowled 101.4 overs during the middle period of the game while none of the others have bowled more than 66 overs in that phase.

Mustafizur bowled 27.4 overs in the death, most by any Bangladeshi bowler in that phase and grabbed only four wickets during this stage of the game. In 13 innings out of the 19 matches where he bowled in the death, his economy rate is 7.05. In the same timeframe during the death overs, Taskin has taken 10 wickets in 14 innings at 6.08 runs per over while Shoriful has picked nine wickets in 11 innings at 7.11. Tanzim grabbed four wickets in 7 innings at 7.61.

In the middle overs, Taskin picked six wickets in 18 innings with an economy of 5.67 while Shoriful grabbed seven wickets in 18 innings at 5.73 and Tanzim had taken five wickets in 10 innings with an economy of 5.79. With the new ball, Taskin took 11 wickets in 18 innings at an economy of 4.35 while Tanzim Shakib took seven wickets in 11 innings with an economy of 5.90 and Shoriful took seven wickets in 18 innings at 5.29 runs per over.

Hasan Mahmud, who played two games in the 2023 ODI World Cup, was only picked on four occasions following the global tournament out of the 17 ODIs played by Bangladesh.

There's a feeling that Hasan had to pave way for the experienced left-arm pacer while others opined that if Bangladesh really needed a left-arm pacer, then in that case Shoriful should be tried on a more consistent basis as chances are slim for Mustafizur to get back the ODI rhythm as he is predominantly a T20 bowler nowadays.

Mahbub Ali Zaki, BCBs game development coach who works closely with pacers, told Cricbuzz that he feels that the left-arm pacer is lacking pace and swing and only depended on cutters that is hardly paying off. "You need pace and swing to do well with the new ball, but Mustafizur has none of them. He only has cutters. Cutter and swing are completely two different things," said Zaki.

"Mustafizur doesn't have the pace and swing that he needs to do well with the new ball. He is not skilled enough for one day or four day cricket. He has only one skill and that is the cutter, which is basically T20 based. As I have seen him yesterday (third ODI) he went for cutters mostly," he said.

"He can only dismiss the tailenders, who are not skilled in batting. The same happens in T20s. Skills needed in ODIs and T20s are not same. He needs swing and pace to do well in ODIs, but he doesn't have those. That's why he skips one day and four day matches showing injury reasons mostly," he remarked.

"He is neither skilled enough for ODIs, nor his endurance level is high enough for playing this format. He is not skilled enough to bowl 10 overs. If I analyze, you will need a lot of things if you want to bowl 10 overs at 135 kph, like running speed, landing and transitional time, arm rotation, cardiovascular system, heart rate, glycogen system, ATP, lactic acid etc," he said.

"Mustafizur can't take the loads now. He can't take as well as his body doesn't produce these and he is aged now. He needs to do hard work that is absent so far. This is the problem of Bangladesh cricket. He gets chances because there are not enough quality bowlers. He has no accountability to the team. He is ready for T20 format only as he somehow covers his four overs with cutters."

Zaki insisted it is high time Bangladesh hand opportunities to other bowlers now. "The young pacers should be given more chances in place of him. They may concede 6 or 7 runs per over instead of 5.39, but they will get experience at least. Mustafizur should be benched and only play T20s," he said.

"Fitness level is not up to the mark for ODIs. We should try to prepare Shoriful by giving him chances as we need a lefty. We need to make Shoriful fit by letting him play. It is clear that things can't go well with Mustafizur anymore. People remember Mustafizur's IPL pictures, and not the ODI stats. That is what gets him chances as people don't remember the stats.

"I can show you what it needs to be a pace bowler. Till date, we only worked with basic principles. But a pace bowler needs a lot more regarding bio mechanics and others and if you see GPS of Mustafizur you will find him far behind. People only remember his IPL performance and one or two overs in national colours to say that he is back. But his 10 overs should be calculated. How much he is conceding, what is his economy rate, how many wickets he is taking, should be assessed," he added.

"He needs skills to do well. But he can't do it physically now, as he needs practicing for long hours, which his body won't permit and questions about his workload will come up. But he needs to bowl more to be skilled and improve his fitness level," he concluded.

It remains to be seen how long the Bangladesh team management keeps faith on the pacer in the ODI format unless he works on improving his skillset.