DHAKA: The heart throb of Bangladesh Mustafizur Rahman fondly named “Fizz” had red carpet rolled out, red roses crowning him when he arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday night (May 30).

While enjoying his heroic home coming on TV at my Melbourne residence late last night, the words of English Poet Robert Browning “Thus he enters, thus he leaves” was ringing in my ears. We had the poem “Patriot” of Robert Bowning in our higher secondary certificate English course. It also flashed back on my inward eyes the never to be forgotten scene of Bangabandhu returning on January 10, 1972 in his land of dream.

I unfortunately was not too far when that dreamer and architect of Bangladesh was cruelly murdered on August 15, 1975 by the conspirators and betrayers. Let us pray and hope that Mustafiz will not share the luck with “The Patriot” of Robert Browning.

Robert Browning’s “The Patriot” is a brilliant piece of dramatic verse. It deals with the fickleness of public opinion and their proclivity towards hero-worshipping. The same people who lift you up to the skies will also pull you down into the ditch.

The speaker of the poem is a patriot. He thinks of his glorious past. A year ago he was given a grand welcome on his arrival to the town. People had thrown roses and myrtle in his path. The church-spires were decorated with bright flags. The house-roofs were full of people who wanted to have a look at him. Bells rang to announce the patriot’s arrival. The frenzy and madness exceeded all limits. People were even ready to catch the sun for him.

A virtually unknown, unheard youngster from a remote village Tetulia of Sathkhira down south is not only the darling boy from Tentulia to Teknaf of Bangladesh. He is now Talk of the Cricket Community. The mystery left arm pace bowler has deceptive variation, deadly Yorkers at pace, lethal cutters. All these weapons he delivers with virtually no change of actions.

Mustafiz burst into the scene when charismatic Tiger Captain Mashrafe decided to open the attack with new ball in his own place against mighty India with the young prodigy. He struck gold. Rohit, Kohli, Raina and Dhoni were bemused. First ODI brought him five fors and Bangladesh rocked mighty India taking sweet revenge of “Melbourne conspiracy”. Six wickets haul in the very next ODI not only secured the ODI series for the first time for Bangladesh against India but also he rewrote the history page of ODI record. His mystery remained decoded by the Indians even in the third ODI which they won to avoid total humiliation. Mustafiz grabbed two more wickets in that match. A total of 13 wickets in the very first ODI series! World cricket was awed by the emergence of a cricket rock star. Thenceforth, his rise was a fairy tale to term the least.

Then came the South Africans. Mustafiz again rocked them in yet another 2-1 series victory of the Team Tigers. Great Amla, Duminy, de Kock were his bunnies. Monster Chris Gayle played a match against Mustafiz in BPL. The only ball he faced disturbed his furniture.

His young limbs got stressed. He had to nurse injury and missed Asia Cup and most matches of ICC T20 world cup. But the matches he played he appeared with his brilliant best.  He did not play in PCL.

Sunrisers Hyderabad recruited him possibly as an understudy of Trent Boult, Ashish Nehra and Bhubaneswar Kumar. But very soon the team think tank VVS Laxsman, Tom Moddy and Muttiah Muralitharan realised Mustafiz is a jewel in the crown. With his trademark slow cutters and fast swinging Yorkers he harassed the top batsmen of the world. They could not read him. With Nehra, Bhuvi and Sran he formed lethal bowling combination. His captain David Warner sensed the poison in his bite. Fizz became the most fearsome, most miserly death over bowler. He not only took 17 wickets playing 16 matches, he paved the way for his ideal partner B Kumar in harvesting rich haul of 23 wickets and earning the purple cap. Fizz rightly won the best emerging player of IPL 2016.

Coming back to where I started, Bangladeshis all over the world definitely admired and adored his meteoric rise into prominence. Even Prime Minister, an ardent lover of Cricket termed her national hero. She possibly got emotional as every time Fizz got a wicket or bowled a deceiving deliveries Bangladesh was mentioned which she loves next to nothing.

Receiving him with red carpet rolled out and crowning him with red roses was OK. But let us not burst his balloon soon. He is a special talent and needs handling with care. IPL is Nothing More Than an Indian Domestic Event. Sky is his limit. He will definitely have higher stages to contribute and earn yet much higher laurels for Bangladesh. There are few more established stars in Team Tigers. Mashrafe, the enigmatic captain, Mushfique the ever reliable batting hero, Shakib the celebrated all-rounder, Tamim the master blaster, Mahmudullah the silent killer. Even Sabbir, Taskin, Rubel, Al-Amin, Shanto, Miraj all have bright future. Let us not go crazy with Mustafiz too early. That may affect his future.

I have seen how coolly he handled the media. He is not a person to get carried away so soon. Hope his mentor in the team Mashrafe his loving captain will continue to shadow him for a while. He will miss the parental guidance of Heath Streak. He needs care. His limbs are still shaping, his muscles will still grow. Hope BCB gets Chaminda Vass as bowling coach to nurse him. Chaminda was a brilliant swing bowler of same trade.

The best thing would be leaving him on his own, letting him enjoy his game. I am not sure about the extent of his injury which forced him resting the play-off match against Gujrat Lions. Hope it would be rightly assessed by BCB physio before letting him play for Mohammedan Sporting club or letting him go to England. But for me, playing in England will arm him with exposure to right conditions. If Wasim Akram, the legendary Sultan of Swing, could have few sessions with Fizz that could be very useful. He needs to develop in-swinging deliveries for the right hand batsmen which “Vass” was the master.

Anyway we would not like a gifted player of Fizz caliber burn out or gets wasted from superfluous appreciation of irresponsible quarter. Let him grow as a proud family member of Team Tigers. Let him enjoy his time in the Sunshine.

BDST: 1318 HRS, MAY 31, 2016
SR