Why Ziaur Rahman should be a starter for Bangladesh at the T20 World Cup

At 28 years old, Ziaur Rahman is what most would call a late-bloomer

Every team produces this one batsman who is technically not so sound, but can, on his day, win the match single-handedly with a sheer display of brutality with the willow. Names like Shahid Afridi, Yusuf Pathan and Kieron Pollard echoes within the walls of the mind while thinking about such players.

For Bangladesh, a player of similar force has appeared on the surface – Ziaur Rahman.

At 28 years old, he is what most would call a late-bloomer. As a young player of 21 years old, he toured with the Bangladesh team for the 2007 World Cup as a specialist fast bowler, though he never got a game to show his worth. A knee injury in 2009 meant that he required a surgery and had to suffer a prolonged period on the sidelines.

At that point, with his career on the line as he could no longer bowl fast, he had to make a choice. Ziaur was always considered a handy hitter who could do some real damage as a lower-order batsman. And that’s when he decided to focus on his batting.

The rest, as they say, is history.

The missing piece in Bangladesh’s limited overs artillery

As he put in some ruthless performances with the bat for the then Chittagong Kings in the first season of the Bangladesh Premier League, the selectors could no longer overlook him and they handed him his long awaited T20I debut against Ireland in the summer of 2012.

The thing that stands out with him is brute strength—something for which he remains unparalleled in his team. While Soumya Sarkar made his name as a flamboyant and aggressive stroke-player, he doesn’t exude the strength that Zia does when he plays his shot.

In fact, when talking about brawns, not one player in the Bangladesh team can do what he does—and that is what he perfectly depicted against Comilla Victorians with a relentless knock of 39 in just 16 balls.

Some might argue that he isn’t technically gifted enough to be playing for the Tigers, especially given their recent upsurge in highly talented players from all pools. But that is perhaps the thing needed in order for them to do well in the shortest international format in the game.

Bangladesh have been playing amazingly in ODIs over the last 12 months, winning every series against nations like Pakistan, India and South Africa. However, their Test and T20I performances leave a lot to be desired as they still look like rookies in those 2 formats.

While there is no doubt Zia isn’t cut out to be representing his nation in whites, there can be little argument as to whether he is adept enough to play the T20Is.

Licensed to brutalize

Bangladesh have many technically sound players, players who can steer an innings with craftiness. However, in T20s, more often than not, there needs to be a player who has the license to do whatever he wants—and the necessary skillset to have that license.

Zia ticks all the boxes here. He is like the Yusuf Pathan of Bangladesh. His presence means that there is a batsman who can hit any sort of ball and can also be a handy player with the ball in the hand. Be it a yorker or a rib-breaking short-ball, Zia, when in the mood, can smash them all out of the park.

His strike-rate of 125 in T20s might not be convincing enough of the qualities that are being gloated about here, but stats can be so misleading.

With the ball, he remains a decent medium pacer who can be trusted to bowl decent spells in the middle of the innings. His first-class average of 24.31 with the ball is a good enough certificate of his ability as bowler.

While he is nowhere near to being the best player of Bangladesh, or the most important for that matter, but at a time when the odds are stacked against his team with a required run-rate of over 12-13 and a handful wickets in hand, he is the man who is most likely to win them the game from that scenario.

And like all crazy sloggers, he is that player who can win you games single-handedly on his day.