Bangladesh's Mustafizur Rahman mesmerises with record wicket haul

Mirpur (Bangladesh), June 22 (IANS) Bangladesh's teenage fast bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman has stormed into the record books with his fiery cutters that left the Indian batsmen flummoxed in the Tiger's den.

The 19-year-old tore through the much-vaunted Indian batting line-up to become the first player to pick up 11 wickets in his first two One-Day Internationals (ODI). With two successive five-wicket hauls in his first two matches, he also equalled the record of Zimbabwe seamer Brian Vitori, reports bdnews24.com.

Mustafizur left the Indian batsmen clueless as Bangladesh skittled out the tourists for 200 in 45 overs in the rain-shortened game at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Sunday. He followed up his Thursday's 5/50 with 6/43 in the second ODI to become only the second bowler to achieve the feat.

Incidentally, Vitori recorded the feat against Bangladesh in 2011.

Mustafizur varied his pace, line and length to keep the Indians guessing in his second spell after his first five overs had cost him 32 runs. He drew first blood scalping opener Rohit Sharma for a duck with the second ball of the match.

Brought back in the 36th over, he ripped through the Indian middle-order with off-cutters just when skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (47) and Suresh Raina (34) had looked like making a slow recovery. He first had Raina caught behind by wicket-keeper Liton Kumar Das off a rising cutter outside the off-stump.

Soon after, another of his lethal cutters foxed Dhoni into playing early and the Indian captain's attempted cover drive ballooned up to Soumya Sarkar at mid-off for an easy catch. On the very next ball, the new find trapped Axar Patel leg before wicket with a dipping in-swinger.

Though denied the hat-trick by a watchful Ravichandran Ashwin, Mustafizur completed his five-for soon after removing the lanky Indian spinner, caught behind with yet another off-cutter.

Mustafizur added Ravindra Jadeja (19) to his tally with the last ball of his fabulous spell after play resumed. He pitched it full and straight as Jadeja played across as the ball ricocheted to rattle the stumps. Mustafizur, in the process, surpassed all other Bangladesh bowlers before him.

His fellow paceman Taskin Ahmed grabbed two wickets in his second match after a five-for on debut.

Even after considering overall career records, Mustafizur is the only bowler in Bangladesh with two straight five-wicket hauls. Abdur Razzak stands closest with four wickets in a match following a five-for against Zimbabwe in 2010. In fact, Razzak and Mustafizur are the only two bowlers with more than one five-fors in ODIs.

Razzak did it four times. Seven other Bangladesh bowlers have taken five wickets in a match once in their ODI careers.