Mustafizur Rahman is a name that Indian batsmen would not like to hear ever. The Bangladeshi bowling sensation was responsible for India's first series loss against Bangladesh and his threat is looming large over India ahead of the third ODI. The hosts would aim for a series win against former World Champions India.
Ahead of the third and final ODI, Bangladesh's bowling coach Heath Streak has said one cannot expect Rahman to pick up up five wickets in every match that he plays. But he has to be consistent.
"He has to execute (his skills) more regularly and consistently. When you are training with the guys on a regular basis, you can make their skills better. There's no magic trick. It is making sure they are training at a high level for a long period of time.
"We discussed some other options (after the first ODI) if he didn't succeed with what he was doing in the first game, some variations that we might have to try to counteract it. India would have seen his video footage," said Streak in an interview to Espn Cricinfo ahead of the third ODI against India.
Rahman became the first bowler in the history of ODI cricket to pick up 11 wickets in his first two matches. He also became the second Bangladeshi bowler to pick up five wickets on his debut after Taskin Ahmed.
Streak feels if Rahman is guided in a proper way, he can become one of Bangladesh's all-time great pacer.
"I think that's where as a coach you have to be careful not to over-coach and just help guide them along. When assistance is needed, you remind them. It is a very important part of coaching. Some people need more coaching than others. We have to be careful how we manage him.
"He is still very young. We have to be careful. He has taken 11 wickets but we can't expect him to take five wickets every time. He has shown his potential. If we look after him and support him, he will be a big match-winner for us. When Mashrafe started, he was looked after throughout his career," Streak said.
He also went on to laud the other three fast bowlers - Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain and Ahmed. The former Zimbabwean pacer opined that it was a part of their plan to surprise India with four fast bowlers. All these bowlers have different kinds of variations up their sleeves and Rahman has a mix of slower deliveries in his arsenal.
"Mashrafe has been a consistent performer for Bangladesh for a long time now. We have a good group and we felt India wouldn't expect that. We knew that conditions, if we can prepare the wickets to suit our style of bowling, would play into our hands.
"We are starting to see Taskin and Rubel show a lot more experience and putting that into practice. In the first two games their spells were under-rated. Rubel's wicket yesterday was at an important time for us. Taskin got Dhawan and Kohli in the first game, it was fantastic for us. Big positive so we must take our hats off to those guys," Streak said.
