Mustafizur Rahman born 6 September 1995) is a Bangladeshi international cricketer. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler. He won the Emerging Player Award in his first T20 World Cup in 2016 after taking 9 wickets in just 3 matches including a fifer against New Zealand (5/22; Best bowling figure for a losing side). He is called “The Fizz”
Mustafizur Rahman is a wily left-arm pacer that foxes batters with his ever growing arsenal of slower deliveries and cutters. Now a seasoned campaigner, it was a nineteen-year-old Mustafizur Rahman who grabbed attention during India’s tour of Bangladesh (June 2015) when he became the second bowler in ODI history after Zimbabwe’s Brian Vitori to pick up two five-wicket hauls in his first two matches. In fact, he is the only bowler to take a total of 11 wickets in his first two games. In his 3rd ODI against India, he took 2 wickets and made history by taking 13 wickets in a 3-match ODI series.
Rahman, who has been playing cricket from a very young age, was first spotted by scouts from Satkhira and picked him up to play in the Under-17 tournaments before calling him up for pace bowling camps in Dhaka. His obvious talent did not take long to get noticed and before he knew it, he became a regular part of Bangladesh’s Under-19 squad. He represented Bangladesh in the Under-19 World Cup in 2014 and picked up 9 wickets in six matches. His first-class debut came in the 2013-14 season as well for Khulna and he started giving commendable performances, thus sealing his spot in the team. He finished the first-class season with 26 wickets at an average of 19.08.
Mustafizur made his international debut in a one-off T20 match against Pakistan and picked up two wickets, that of Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez. He was handed the ODI cap in the series against India and instantly impressed with his accuracy and variations. Mustafizur made his Test debut against South Africa in July 2015. He picked up four wickets in his first match and became the first player to win ‘Man of the Match’ award on both Test as well as One Day International debuts.
In April 2019, he was named in Bangladesh’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 5 July 2019, in the match against Pakistan, Mustafizur took his 100th wicket in ODIs. He finished the tournament as the leading wicket-taker for Bangladesh, with twenty dismissals in eight matches. Following the World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Mustafizur as the rising star of the squad.
In September 2021, he was named in Bangladesh’s squad for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup