The field is where he belongs

There wasn't a lot that Mustafizur Rahman spoke of following his historic debut on Thursday.

The one aspect though that the bowler wanted everyone to know was the amount of hard work his brother, Mokhlesur Rahman, had put in for the pacer's cause.

Hailing from a family of four brothers, Mustafizur, like his siblings, started playing taped-tennis cricket tournaments at an early age.

"The three of us couldn't complete our studies due to various reasons. But we tried really hard to create a different environment for Mustafiz," said Mokhlesur.

"Believe me, we had kept three teachers just for him. But he would just fall asleep while studying. I remember him telling me, 'why are you trying so hard when I am not interested?" recalled Mokhleshur.

It was then that Mustafizur was introduced to cricket tournaments. 

"Initially I never thought he would make it so far. You can easily earn around 4000 to 5000 taka by playing in these tournaments in Tetulia and I thought that would be good for him," said Mokhlesur.

It was in 2009 when his brother decided to take a leap of faith and requested a club coach in Satkhira to train Mustafizur. 'Altaf bhai', as Mokhlesur put it, accepted and that's how it all began for the left-armer.

Mustafizur and his brother travelled 45 kilometres every morning for five days a week, just so that the pacer could train with the professionals.

He had also fixed a strict training routine for Mustafizur, which demanded the bowler to run three to four kilometres every morning. 

Eventually the hard work paid off and the club coach, Altaf, took Mustafizur to an inter-district age-level hunt.

"I was really nervous that day because there were 140 participants in that hunt and I thought the coaches would ask Mustafizur to leave even before letting him bowl. They tend to do that sometimes.

"I even remember scolding him for bowling a bad delivery first up. But after that it all went well and he was rated as the best bowler among the group," said Mokhlesur.

"The coach over there told me to not let Mustafizur play cricket with a tennis ball again," he added.

Mustafizur's life travelled on the fast lane ever since that day. He went on to play for Satkhira under-16s, and in the next two years, made it into the Bangladesh under-19s.

BCB selector Habibul Basher noticed Mustafizur during his time with the under-19s in 2014 and the absence of a genuine left-arm pacer helped his quick promotion.

It was an emotional moment for Mustafizur's family members yesterday, all of whom watched the game together at home.

"He is very shy. He doesn't talk a lot when we are around. But on the field he laughs and plays his heart out. It's there that he enjoys the most," an emotional Mokhlesur said.

Mokhlesur, though, is not yet satisfied. "The day I see him become a regular member in all three formats of the game is when I'll be happy. Because I know that he can do it."