Nasir chipping in consistently

Be it with a bat or a ball in hand, or without it during fielding, Bangladesh’s lively allrounder Nasir Hossain has been a busy cricketer off late, chipping in with wickets and runs lower down the order during most of the ODI matches played this year.

Nasir played his part, primarily with his steady off-spin during the historic ODI series triumph over South Africa, and recorded his career best bowling figures of 3/26 in eight overs on July 12, at Mirpur where Bangladesh won the 2nd match by seven wickets.

Known for his ability to bat in different gears according to the match situation, Nasir has good control and accuracy with his quickish off-spinners, and always has been a live-wire in the field, one of the fittest cricketers in the Bangladesh team.

Nasir Hossain played 12 ODI matches in 2015, a year that saw Bangladesh win ten matches with home-series wins over Pakistan, India and South Africa in the bag. In six of the games, Nasir didn’t get the chance to bat but bowled in all of them.

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza bowled out Nasir’s quota of 10 overs only once in the 12 matches. Nasir bowled on average six and a half overs, and picked up 12 wickets this year, especially during the middle-overs of a game.

With the top-order of Bangladesh’s batting firing in all cylinders during the recent matches against South Africa, India and Pakistan, Nasir was not required to bat in many games.

Nasir scored a total of 146 runs in the six innings he batted, coming lower down the order to finish a game. His average is over 24 with the bat in ODI matches this year.

The allrounder has always entertained the crowd with his athletic fielding wherever he played, and took some smart catches during the recent home series wins over India and South Africa.

His nonchalant effort to pull off a tricky catch at the boundary to dismiss Farhaan Behardien as South Africa lost their last man for 162 runs in the 2nd ODI was a highlight from Nasir Hossain.

Nasir now occupies the 37th place in the list of ICC Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen in 2015, and hopes to continue the momentum of ODI wins into the longest format of the game.

Bangladesh will face South Africa on July 21, at Chittagong for the first Test of the 2-game series. Nasir’s accurate offies will come in handy when the pitch starts to wear at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.

Best wishes to Nasir for the upcoming Test series.

Go Tigers Go!

Bangladesh allrounder Nasir Hossain speaks to the press. File Photo: STAR