The media and cricket fans in Bangladesh are often accused of building up a young player with potential too early in his career, only to drag him down from the pedestal the moment the performance graph goes south.
This accusation is not without merit. The list of young players losing their way after a blazing start to their careers is already very long in Bangladesh cricket.
In such a cricketing culture, it’s surprising that a fast bowler like Hasan Mahmud is still pretty much flying under the radar.
Hasan, a 23-year-old right-arm fast bowler, possesses every quality the Tigers have been wanting in a pacer for years.
With a silky smooth action, Hasan can swing the new ball both way, bowl accurate bouncers aimed at the batter’s temple and regularly click 140 km/hour in the speed gun.
He doesn’t have any special delivery like Mustafizur Rahman’s cutters nor does he have the raw speed of someone like Ebadot Hossain.
But he has every trait one could want from a fast bowler in international cricket.
And not being dependent on just one trick has made him adaptable for all conditions. He can work his magic on pace-friendly pitches in England, South Africa or Australia and can also do a decent job on slow and drab pitches usually found in South Asia.
Hasan gave another example of his ability as a fast bowler on Monday, during Bangladesh’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against the Netherlands.
His compatriot Taskin Ahmed grabbed all the spotlight with his career best figures of 4-25, that scripted the nine-run victory for Bangladesh in Hobart.
But to defend a meagre score like 144 on a ground where the par score is somewhere around 160, a team needs more than one bowler to step up.
For Bangladesh, the second standout bowler on Monday was Hasan.
In his four overs, Hasan conceded 15 runs, at an economy rate of just 3.75. To put this into further context, Hasan bowled 16 dot balls against the Netherlands, meaning he conceded runs on only eight of his 24 deliveries on Monday.
Hasan didn’t just push the required rate up with his economic bowling. He also claimed the wickets of Tim Pringle and Logan van Beek.
He dismissed Pringle in the 13th over, shattering his stumps with a straight delivery, and also didn’t concede a single run in that over.
That was the sixth time a Bangladeshi bowler claimed a maiden in an ICC T20 World Cup match. The first bowler to do it was pacer Syed Rasel.
Ironically, Rasel’s maiden was also a wicket maiden and like Hasan it came in a winning cause, as it occurred in Bangladesh’s only other victory in the main phase of the ICC T20 World Cup, way back in 2007 against the West Indies.
Now, there is a temptation to disregard Hasan’s performance as it came against the Netherlands, an associate team. But that won’t be fair to the pacer, who has been consistent in T20 internationals so far in 2022.
Hasan’s T20I career, which began in 2020, hit an early roadblock due to injury. It took the pacer close to a year to fully recover from the injury woes and make his way back into the national team.
Since his return, Hasan has played two T20Is against Zimbabwe, missed the Asia Cup due to a minor injury, featured in three matches in the tri-nation series in New Zealand before being included in Bangladesh’s opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
Barring one match against Pakistan in Christchurch, where he conceded 42 runs in four overs, his economy rate never went over seven runs per over on batting friendly conditions.
In the six T20Is he has played in 2022, Hasan has bagged nine wickets, the third most for a Bangladeshi bowler in this calendar year.
Hasan has claimed two wickets less than top-placed Mosaddek Hossain but has played seven games fewer than Mosaddek.
Hasan, who hails from Laxmipur, will face a bigger test on Thursday, when Bangladesh faces South Africa in their second match of the Super 12.
If Hasan can replicate his Monday’s performance against the Proteas, the right-arm pacer will no longer be hidden in plain sight.