Off-colour Mustafizur disappoints in Champions Trophy

It has been a disappointing ICC Champions Trophy for Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, of whom much was expected.

According to Bangladesh's leading vernacular daily 'Prothom Alo', the 21-year-old who burst onto the scene with a man-of-the-series performance against India two years back, has been a pale shadow of his former self throughout the tournament leaving supporters high and dry.

Mustafizur, fondly called 'The Fizz' failed to get his off-cutters right on Thursday against India and was taken to the cleaners by openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Mustafizur gave away 53 runs in the six overs he bowled, taking no wicket.

In the last five games, Mustafizur has taken only two wickets in 39 overs. According to the paper, besides the subcontinent where he has found reasonable success, Mustafizur has failed to perform as his off-cutters have not worked.

The new challenge for Mustafizur now will be to try out Plan B to get batsmen out. According to 'Prothom Alo', in Mustafizur's defence his shoulder injury is still bothering him and he has not fully recovered from that. Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has said that "Going by his age, he is a very clever bowler. He will definitely make a comeback."

Bangladesh lost to India by nine wickets in the semi-final on Thursday to crash out of the Champions Trophy.

--IANS

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