Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman is all set to play his 3rd season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which will kick-off tonight. After playing two seasons with Sunrisers Hyderabad, he will now feature for Mumbai Indians who will be defending their title.
Three time IPL winners Mumbai Indians wants to bring out the best of Mustafizur and they desperately want to utilize him properly. For that, they also came up with a smart idea.
As Mustafizur is not good in English, They have hired former Bangladesh opener Nafees Iqbal who is also the elder brother of Tamim Iqbal. Nafees will work as a translator of Mustafizur and will help him to communicate better with the coaching staff and players of Mumbai Indians.
On the eve of the match day, Mustafizur has shared the memories of his early days in international cricket and also revealed what was his reaction after he heard he will be playing for Mumbai Indians.
“In the beginning, not too many people knew about me. So, it was difficult for batsmen to read me. Nowadays if I bowl today, tomorrow everyone has video footage to study and decode what I am doing. In the beginning of my international career, I was relatively unknown. It worked in my favour,” Mustafizur said.
“I did not watch the auction because I had a game that day. My coach that eventually told me that I had been picked by MI. Obviously I was very excited that I had been picked by a team like MI,” he added.
When asked about his experience so far:
“Whoever I have spoken to has been very helpful. They are always ready to help and improve your game. I am keen to learn and fine tune my game. I openly talk to them about the problems I face, and I ask them what I could do to improve on these areas. There are a lot of players of my age. And there are a lot of seniors. All in all, it’s been a good experience so far.”
Mustafizur also had a message for his fans. The young bowler wants his fan to not only support him, but the whole Mumbai Indians team.
“People love me because they see what I do every day. I will work hard and try to make them happier and would hope that they love me even more. Now I have come to play for Mumbai Indians and I would want them to all come together and support the team. Not just Mustafizur but support the entire team. That is what I hope for,” he concluded.
Defending champions Mumbai Indians are set to take on Chennai Super Kings in the opening match at Wankhede tonight.
