He's here & can stay

MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Shahid Afridi, Suresh Raina, Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy; these are names of just some of the players who have been outfoxed by Mustafizur Rahman in his first six ODIs.

The wiry left-arm pacer will finish the year 2015 with 18 ODI wickets and an astonishing average of 12.61. Having played just six matches, it wouldn't be fair to compare Mustafizur's numbers to the rest of the world; it wouldn't necessarily depict the true picture.

However, just for the heck of it, if one were to place his statistics on the table, his bowling average would just be behind Australia's Mitchell Starc.

More than the numbers, it's the way the pacer has constantly managed to deceive batsmen that has surprised many. When the 19-year-old ran through India's batting order with a six-wicket haul, many reckoned that the lack of information with regards to the left-hander proved advantageous for the hosts and that the cycle would be restored in the second ODI.

Even Bangladesh's pace bowling coach, Heath Streak was a little concerned, as Mustafizur later revealed. A calm Mustafizur ran through with another five-wicket haul.

While he has been a menace on the field, off it, members of companies are working overtime in an attempt to sign up the teenager.

The South Africans, expectedly so, were a tad-bid more cautious regarding the bowler. Right before the start of the T20I series, Faf du Plessis indicated that they had their eye on the left-hander. However, it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Throughout the series the visitors found it difficult to negotiate against the bowler's cutters and other variations. In the first T20I, JP Duminy and du Plessis actually met thrice halfway across the pitch in the sixth over in a bid to try and understand the bowler.

While du Plessis is one player who managed to negotiate the left-hander quite better than some of the others and defied giving his wicket away to him, he too was forced break into a wry smile when one of Mustafizur's cutters shaved past his bat.

What's even better is that Mustafizur seemed to bowl with a lot more pace in the South Africa series. And that's perhaps one factor that compelled the selectors to bring him in the Test squad for the South Africa series. It was a move that was met with both criticism and relief.

Relief because it provides Bangladesh's desperate Test attack a boost; criticism because many believe that the step might have been taken a bit too early.

The debates will go on, but the fact that remains is that Mustafizur is a great find. And if Bangladesh's team management wants to make the most of him, they will need to be cautious, since it's quite obvious that the player has the potential to change Bangladesh's bowling dynamics all together.