Mustafizur delighted over his fabulous performance on Test debut

Teenage pace sensation Mustafizur Rahman is thrilled with his performance on Test debut which, he claims, is better than the one he put up on his ODI debut.

Mustafizur registered a five-wicket haul against the famed Indian batting line-up in his first ever one-day last month.

He took another six in the next match to bag a record-levelling 11 wickets in two matches and then went on to grab a record-breaking 13 wickets in the landmark series-win against their neighbours.

His 4 for 37 in 17.4 overs on the opening day of the first Test helped the hosts wrap up South Africa’s first innings for 248 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

Although he took three wickets in four balls and missed out on the record of hat-trick on debut, Mustafizur’s figures on Tuesday may not seem better than the ones against India.

The 19-year old, however, rate his Tuesday’s performance higher at a post-match press conference.

"One-dayers and Tests are different formats. But if I have to choose, I’d put the Test performance ahead (of the ODI debut).”

He elaborated, “Test cricket is much tougher than one-day games. It required a lot of hard work.”

“One-dayers are all about bowling in the right places. The batsmen always want to score and give away wickets trying to play shots.

“But it is not that easy to get wicket in Tests. The batsmen leave or block the good balls. Taking wickets in Tests needs lots of hard work.”

Mustafizur’s offcutters and slower went without a wicket for 13 overs. But he struck thrice in his 14th with the wickets of Hashim Amla, Jean-Paul Duminy and Quinton de Kock to break the Proteas middle order.

When asked whose wicket he enjoyed the most, he replied, “Hashim Amla’s wicket was the most enjoyable. I am thrilled to have taken the wicket of a batsman of his calibre as my maiden (Test) wicket.”

Mustafizur came back into the attack and took out topscorer Temba Bavuma (54) to draw the curtain on the Proteas innings.