Dhaka: The upcoming Sri Lanka series could shape fast bowler Nahid Rana's career as a genuine match winner for Bangladesh after he hogged the limelight with his lightning pace. The young fast bowler was the answer as the team management of Bangladesh was searching for a pacer with raw pace.
According to Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, with Bangladesh's pace bowling department continuing to be impressive over the last couple of years thanks to Taskin Ahmed's rejuvenation and the arrival of pacers like Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Tanzim Sakib, and others, they lacked sheer pace. Nahid gave that dimension to make the bowling a potent one.
"He is our X factor, because of the pace," Bangladesh coach Phil Simmons said when he first saw Nahid in action. "If he stays fit, he can unsettle any batter with his pace on any kind of wicket."
In his short career, Nahid has already made his debut in all formats for Bangladesh. While his debut in the T20 format against the United Arab Emirates was not eye-catching, he still claimed two wickets in his trademark style-by unsettling the batters with extreme pace. However, he leaked runs generously, which to some extent ruined his bowling figure.
But his Test and ODI debuts were somewhat what the whole of Bangladesh expected. He generated pace and embarrassed the batters regularly with relentless attacks and pace. He has already played seven Tests and took 23 wickets while in four ODIs, he has so far grabbed five wickets.
But it is his Test credentials that delighted Bangladesh the most. The traditional mantra of Test cricket is to take 20 wickets to win the game and in Nahid Rana, Bangladesh believes they have a bowler who could well complement his other colleagues to take all 20 wickets of the opponents.
In his maiden Test against Sri Lanka, he took three wickets in the first innings and two in the second, finishing with five wickets, a number not bad for a debutant. Bangladesh lost that Test by 328 runs but Nahid's impressive debut brought a fresh breath of air into the side's pace attack, which badly sought express pace.
He didn't do quite well in his second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi but in his just third Test, also in Rawalpindi, he produced a match-winning spell to take four wickets in the second innings as Bangladesh won the Test and swept the two-match series against Pakistan.
In his just sixth Test, he grabbed his maiden five-for against the West Indies as Bangladesh won their first Test match on Caribbean Island for the first time since 2009.
The stats showed that in his short career, he had already won two Tests for Bangladesh, which is a testament to his immense skill and determination.
"Test is the format which I like most out of the three formats. It's the most prestigious," he told BSS recently. "I will continue to play Test cricket as long as I am fit."
Nahid said he tried to maintain himself, knowing that fast bowlers always tend to be injury-prone.
"I have maintained things as well as possible. I try to eat properly and work hard to maintain myself."
"It is always challenging but when you can overcome a challenge, it will give you satisfaction and confidence."
The away series in Sri Lanka, an opponent against which he made his international cricket debut, will be a platform for him to maintain the reputation he quickly built.
Bangladesh Test Skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto once said Nahid Rana is never bothered about his opposition, rather he always tries to execute the plans.
"He is not someone who thinks about his opponents a lot. He just thinks about how he is executing his plans," he said.
Shanto summed it up well further by stating: "He bowled really well and bowled fast. And when we see on the ground bowling like this, it helps our whole bowling unit."
"And it motivates us to give the opponent a lot of challenges. So that is one thing I really like."