Mustafizur Rahman started his career with back-to-back five-wicket hauls against India -- 5/50 and 6/43 at Dhaka in 2015. And on Tuesday, he toyed with Indian middle-order to take another fifer to help Bangladesh restrict India to 314/9 in their ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 group match at Edgbaston, Birmingham
Yes, Mustafizur Rahaman is a different beast against India. The 23-year-old left-arm medium pacer toyed with Indian middle-order to restrict the two-time champions to 314/9 during their penultimate group match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Tuesday.
India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first at the same venue where they were pummelled by England. Rohit Sharma (104 off 92) and KL Rahul (77 off 92) stitched a tournament-high opening stand of 180 runs, and India were looking to post a massive total.
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Then, Mustafizur showed his craft by dismissing Kohli (26 off 27), Hardik Pandya (0 off 2), MS Dhoni (35 off 33), Dinesh Karthik (8 off 9) and Mohammed Shami (1 off 2). It could have a been a six-wicket haul had Tamim Iqbal hold on to a dolly off the fourth ball off the fifth over. Then, Rohit was on nine.
For the record, Mustafizur started his career with back-to-back five-wicket hauls against India -- 5/50 and 6/43 at Dhaka in 2015. He also has a fifer against Zimbabwe, 5/34 at Dhaka the same year.
Mustafizur's figures of 5/59 are also the second best figures for a Bangladesh bowler at World Cup, after Shakib Al Hasan's 5/29 against Afghanistan at Southampton earlier in the tournament.
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His spell was so impressive that he conceded just six runs in his last two overs. He now has 98 wickets which fifth most after 53 matches, after Rashid Khan of Afghanistan (119), Australia's Mitchell Starc (104), Pakistan's Saqlain Mushtaq (101) and New Zealand's Shane Bond (99).