Nasum’s confidence from Mirpur must be translated into T20 WC

Cricket is known as the game of glorious uncertainty not because it changes course in a split of a second but this is the game where even the best of batsmen may get out in the first ball. 

New Zealand’s Colin de Grandhomme understood the fact harshly as he faced a pitch of a delivery from Nasum Ahmed and had nothing to do but snick to the wicket-keeper to get out for a golden duck. 

And there comes the second most important factor of the glorious game.

This is the game whereby a player has to face all sorts of conditions, surface and atmosphere and must adapt to them to come out as a winner.

The English game had to face the whimsical nature of weather, batsmen had to adapt to sticky and uncovered wickets in order to excel in the hard pitches under sunny weather. 

When the game became global, the uncertainty index became even more complex as the various conditions in different parts of the world made the game even more challenging, and indeed glorious.

But the bottom line is, the players must perform.

Even on a slow, low pitch a bowler must put the ball in the right place to earn the wicket.

And there goes the credit of Nasum, who bowled an inch perfect left-arm spin, pitching just short of good length to rise, and the exact amount of turn to find the edge, a kiss of death for batsman, en route to the keeper to get the wicket. 

The six-feet tall bowler, a rarity for Bangladesh, used his height perfectly on the conducive pitch to become lethal and in the end return with an eye-popping figure of 4/10 in four overs, including two maidens, perhaps even greater feat than picking up wickets in T20 matches.

This was in fact the second four-for for Nasum within days as he got 4/19 in the first match of the five-T20I series against Australia last match to pave the way for a memorable 4-1 victory for the hosts. 

Inevitably, the 26-year old got great assistance from the pitch and condition, but one cannot discredit his effort.

He, as a matter did not remain as the second fiddle of Shakib al Hasan, the most experienced spinner in Bangladesh side, but he took centre stage in both the series.

Nasum has taken 15 wickets so far in nine matches, conceding 134 runs, while Shakib has returned with 11 scalps for 211 runs.

Bangladesh are all set to play the T20 World Cup that will begin next month in Oman and it is expected that spinners will play a key role. 

The pitches may not be as helpful as that of SBNCS but definitely the successes against teams like Australia and New Zealand will boost the morale of Nasum. 

Bangladesh may hope Nasum, along with Shakib, will form an important partnership, another important aspect of cricket, to raise the chances of success in the important global tournament.