Mustafizur delighted over his inclusion in the ICC XI

Mustafizur Rahman took the cricketing world by storm, with 11 wickets in his first two games.

Mustafizur Rahman, the young Bangladeshi seamer has expressed happiness over his inclusion into the ICC ODI XI of the year 2015. He is the first Bangladeshi to be feted with such an honour.

That it comes as a surprise is not because of the fact that Bangladesh have been around for over a decade now, and yet none of their players have made it into any of the ICC teams. Rather, it is because of the fact that in comparison to his country’s cricket history, Mustafizur has achieved this feat participating in almost a negligible number of matches.

Mustafizur was informed about the news before a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match, where he plays for the Dhaka Dynamites. A shy man in front of the camera, Mustafizur mostly had one-word answers and only a few words to say.

"I was on the field when everyone started to congratulate me," Mustafizur said. "I felt really good after hearing the news because I am the first from my country. I am obviously very happy, bound to be happy that I am among the big players in the world."

Between the qualification period of September 18, 2014, and September 13, 2015, he has played only 6 ODIs, taking 18 wickets at 12.61 and a humbling strike-rate of 17.7. This, in fact, is far less from some of his team-mates in the same eleven – Mitchell Starc and Imran Tahir have played 22 games, Trent Boult has played 19, and Mohammad Shami has played 14.

Mustafizur came along as a lanky seem bowler in the home series against India in June. Bangladesh, by then, had just completed the first leg of what we know now as the most successful run in their cricketing history, by beating Pakistan 3-0 in a bilateral ODI series.

The arrival of this man just added the much-needed impetus to their resurrected forte under a resurgent leader, Mashrafe Mortaza. Mortaza was all praises about this youngster, as he said, “His achievements make us proud. I hope he will hold on to his successes. He will be a regular Test player too.

“A young cricketer to reach such heights is a matter of pride for all Bangladeshis. We never thought he would achieve so much in such a short period of time. Not just making it in the ICC ODI team of the year, he has completely changed the balance of the Bangladesh team.

"I would also hope that all of these things don't put him under pressure. He will have bad days, but people shouldn't put pressure on him. We have to support him. If he can serve the Bangladesh team for another 10-15 years, he will reach an unprecedented height,” Mortaza said.

Mustafizur announced his arrival with a shell-shocking five-wicket haul in his debut game, only to be bettered by a six-wicket haul in his second game, all of this against a staunch Indian batting line-up. Bangladesh won the series 2-1, and it was the first time that they had won a bilateral series against India.

Since then, Bangladesh have resurrected themselves quite magnificently, to an extent that they haven’t lost a single ODI series at home during 2015. They had beaten South Africa and Zimbabwe in subsequent ODI series while the Australia’s tour to Bangladesh was called off due to security concerns.