Tigers’ pacers bowled well as a unit and wrapped up Ireland for only 181 runs in their third match of the tri-series at Malahide in Dublin yesterday. It was pleased to see Mashrafe Bin Mortaza regain his bowling form after a forlorn performance against New Zealand in the previous game, but the captain would be even happier with the performance of Mustafizur Rahman, who ended with figures of 9-2-23-4.
The Team Tigers were disappointed against New Zealand in the previous game but Mashrafe singled out Mustafizur's bowling in that match as a positive. Few things would have been better for the Tigers' skipper than to see the talented Mustafizur recapturing his old form ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy campaign.
Since coming back from shoulder surgery, Mustafizur had some notable contributions for his team during the last Sri Lanka tour but everyone still looked forward to watching the crafty Fizz, especially after an IPL stint where he had to sit in the dugout most of the time.
His performances in the last two games must have given some relief to the team think-tank ahead of the tough challenge in England, where they will face teams like Australia, England and New Zealand in the group encounters, as Fizz was looking at his wiliest, if not his very best.
Mustafizur brought the first breakthrough in yesterday's match in the second over when the dangerous Paul Stirling edged a ball wide outside off stump to short third man where Sabbir Rahman made no errors.