Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb and fast bowler Fazal Haque Farooqi always test the Bangladeshi batsmen hard at the beginning of the innings. Bangladesh batsmen do not have the challenge of handling Mujeeb ur Rahman as he is out of the field due to injury. However, Ghazanfar, who is known as ‘New Mujeeb’, can cause trouble in this case.
The 6ft 2in tall, 18-year-old spinner is already well-known in Afghanistan. He is an off spinner with lots of variations. He can turn both ways and has the ability of doing carom ball, back spin, googly as well. Indian spinner Ashwin is his idol.
By comparison, however, Mujeeb was more mature and dangerous. There was more consistency in bowling especially in big level cricket. The new Mujeeb is a bit behind there. Ghazanfar needs to be more sophisticated and tight. But in the ODI series against South Africa in September, in the Emerging Teams Asia Cup a few days ago, He showed his potential.
Initially was a pacer, then became a spinner on the advice of the coach. Former Afghan captain Dawlat Ahmadzai took care of him here. After the U-19 World Cup, he quickly moved to the national team. He has played 5 ODIs.
This time Rangpur Riders took him in BPL. 2 years ago at the age of 16, he entered the IPL auction but did not get a team. The next time, Kolkata Knight Riders took him as a replacement for the injured Mujeeb. However, he did not get a chance to play.
Time will tell how much opportunity Ghazanfar will get or how well he will do in the series against Bangladesh. But Bangladesh is not getting a chance to do much homework on him because not much video footage is available.
Any new bowler always hurts Bangladesh a lot. Will it be the same this time? With the new Mujeeb, will Afghanistan draw the table to endanger Bangladesh’s batters in the power play!
