In the second T20I between Bangladesh and Pakistan, while chasing a target of 134 runs, Pakistan lost 6 wickets within just the first 30 runs. After a fightback led by Faheem Ashraf, accelerated by the dropped chances he received, fueled by his boundaries and determination, Pakistan got close to the target. Towards the end, Pakistan were requiring 13 runs in the last 7 deliveries with just 2 wickets in hand, with Faheem Ashraf on strike against Rishad Hossain on 51*(31). Rishad Hossain had given away At the other end was Ahmed Daniyal on 13*(9), a tailender in the match. Given that the batter on strike is well set and only 2 wickets were left, under normal circumstances, the batter would have gone on to take a single and keep strike and try to get 12 off 6 in the last over.
In this case, however, Faheem Ashraf went for the big one and missed it completely to get bowled. At the back of the mind, Faheem Ashraf may have been thinking how hard it could be to score 12 off 6 in the last over, because the bowler to bowl the over was none other than Mustafizur Rahman. In the match before, Mustafizur ended up having a bowling figure of 4-0-6-2, the most economical four overs in the T20I history of Bangladesh (1.50). In the death overs, his wizardly cutters going across the right-handers pitching on a good length are near impossible to hit on the Mirpur kind of wickets, and difficult to hit on sporting pitches as well. As the commentators were pointing out how difficult it would be to take runs off Mustafizur in the last over and how Faheem should have been targeting Rishad, he must have been thinking the same, costing himself his wicket.
That’s what the X-factor of someone like Mustafizur does, and the statistics show that. In the final game of the mentioned 3-match T20I series, Bangladesh missed the X-factor of Mustafizur, as Pakistan scored the highest 178/7, the highest total of the series. In fact, this has been the story of Bangladesh throughout the year. In 2025, Bangladesh played 12 T20Is – 3 against the UAE, 3 against Sri Lanka, 6 against Pakistan. They won 1 against the UAE, and 2 each against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Mustafizur Rahman played in all 5 games won by Bangladesh in 2025. In all the other games, Mustafizur was not in the XI. In the T20I series in Bangladesh against Pakistan, he played two games, bowled 7.2 overs, and picked up 3 wickets with an average of just 7.00 and an economy rate of 2.86. For someone like Shoriful Islam, the economy rate itself was 7.00. That’s the difference that Mustafizur makes. In the five T20Is that he played in 2025, that is, the only five that Bangladesh won, his bowling average was just 9.86 with an economy rate of 3.76. What he brings to the table when in form is exceptional.
However, as the bigger challenge, the Asia Cup awaits, Bangladesh would rely on Mustafizur Rahman heavily and look forward to him making an impact in an international tournament.