Bangladesh bowler Mustafizur Rahman has been one of the standout bowlers in IPL 2016, scalping 13 wickets in the competition so far. The bowler has played an integral role in helping his team Sunrisers Hyderabad occupy second spot in the standings as well.
It is not his wicket-taking ability alone that has been impressive in IPL 2016. The Bangladeshi bowler has an economy rate of 6.15, which is brilliant in the shortest format of the game, especially in India, where pitches support the batsmen.
His performance in IPL 2016 has not gone unnoticed as the bowler could well ply his trade in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2016-17 in Australia. BBL franchises might be lining up to sign the left-arm pacer.
Out of the eight teams in the BBL, barring Melbourne Stars, all other teams have a chance to sign the Bangladeshi pacer if they want. The Stars do not have any overseas quota left in their squad.
Among other teams, Melbourne Renegades are one of the favourites to sign the seamer from Bangladesh. The Renegades may have a slight edge over other franchises as the current coach of his IPL team, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Tom Moody is also Renegades' director.
Even Renegades' coach, David Saker has expressed interest in signing an overseas bowler, but is not sure to sign a foreigner or an Australian.
"To be fair, we probably need an overseas bowler. We're looking at whether to go down that track or to recruit a bowler from inside Australia," Cricket Australia official website quoted Saker as saying in The Age.
Mustafizur is a brilliant bowler, and does not give much runs away. Batsmen have struggled to pick his slow-cutters, and his yorkers have also been spot on. With pitches in Australia, which assist bowlers, Mustafizur could shine even more, and unleash his full potential in some of those bouncy surfaces.
Irrespective of whether he is picked by any BBL franchise or not, Mustafizur is gradually becoming one of the best bowlers in world cricket.
