We can't expect him to take five wickets every time - Streak

Mustafizur Rahman has taken 11 wickets in his first two ODIs

Heath Streak, Bangladesh’s pace bowling coach stated that they will ensure that Mustafizur Rahman’s natural bowling abilities are not manipulated too much. Brian Vitori's record of taking ten wickets in his first two ODIs was broken after Rahman managed to take 5 for 50 in his first and 6 for 43 in the second ODI against India. He became the second Bangladesh bowler after Taskin Ahmed, to take a five-wicket haul on debut.

Streak stated that they will closely monitor Rahman’s bowling but will make sure they don’t overdo it. He also added that even though he took 11 wickets in the first two matches, it would be impractical to expect such a performance in every match.

"I think that's where as a coach you have to be careful not to over-coach and just help guide them along," Streak said. "When assistance is needed, you remind them. It is a very important part of coaching. Some people need more coaching than others. We have to be careful how we manage him.

"He is still very young. We have to be careful. He has taken 11 wickets but we can't expect him to take five wickets every time. He has shown his potential. If we look after him and support him, he will be a big match-winner for us. When Mashrafe started, he was looked after throughout his career."

Streak discovered Mustafizur in Bangladesh A’s tour to West Indies last May and was instantly impressed. After his success in the first ODI, Streak worked consciously on his variations to keep the Indian batsmen guessing.

"For me, he has to execute (his skills) more regularly and consistently. When you are training with the guys on a regular basis, you can make their skills better. There's no magic trick. It is making sure they are training at a high level for a long period of time. We discussed some other options (after the first ODI) if he didn't succeed with what he was doing in the first game, some variations that we might have to try to counteract it. India would have seen his video footage," he said.

Streak also said that he planned to take India by surprise by playing four specialist bowlers on the sub-continent surfaces. He along with coach Chandika Hathurusingha ensured that the bowling attack was suited to the conditions.

"I have to give some influence. I work closely with the head coach and we thought the Mirpur wicket does help the seamers," Streak said. "Mustafizur has been bowling well. We fought hard to get him into the T20 squad against Pakistan and he showed what he is capable of. Since then it has been good to have Mustafizur, Taskin and Rubel who we know can perform.

"Mashrafe has been a consistent performer for Bangladesh for a long time now. We have a good group and we felt India wouldn't expect that. We knew that conditions, if we can prepare the wickets to suit our style of bowling, would play into our hands."

Streak was all praise to Taskin and Rubel as well for complimenting Rahman’s attack. Taskin took two important wickets, of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, in the first match, thereby destroying India’s top-order. Rubel, in the second game, dismissed Ambati Rayadu at a critical juncture, followed by the wicket of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.