Mohammad Rafique is the best spinner in the history of Bangladesh cricket. This left arm spinner has been successful in both Test and ODI cricket. In ODI cricket, he is the only Bangladeshi bowler who has over 100 wickets. At this moment, he is the only member in the team who has played in the past two world cup tournaments. He was also a member of the ICC Trophy winner Bangladesh team. I think, among the left arm spinners of the world playing at this moment, he is one of the most successful and skilled spinners. Though earlier in his career, he was thought to be an ODI cricketer, he got chance to the debut test match of Bangladesh in 2000 against India. In the first test he was the most economical bowler for Bangladesh team.
The main strength of his bowling is accuracy and speed. In stead of spinning the ball much, he focuses on speed and accuracy which make him a most successful spinner. Mohammad Rafique is also a hard hitter batsman in the slog overs.
Mohammad Rafique is the only players in Bangladesh who have 1000 runs and 100 wickets in ODI cricket. Playing 112 ODI matches, he has 1124 runs at an average of 13.70 and bagged 108 wickets at an average of 38.92. In test cricket, he scored 982 runs at an average of 21.82 and took 87 wickets at an average of 36.59.
Mohammad Rafique is the most experienced player in Bangladeshi team in World Cup Cricket. He may have become aged but I am sure that he has still some magic left. I would love to shine in World Cup Cricket 2007. The Caribbean pitches can help the spinners a lot and that is why I am more optimistic about the good performance of Mohammad Rafique in World Cup Cricket 2007.
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It's funny but the part time bowlers seem to be doing better than the specialist spinners! Hafeez has more wickets than Kaneria and Styris got more than Vettori. It will be great to see Rafique amongst the wickets.
I am hoping you have a post on the Manjural Islam tragedy where he became the youngest test cricketer to pass away. He looked like a promising understudy for Rafique. In his last match representing Bangladesh A versus England A earlier this month he was MoM with 3/38 and 34 NO in a successful run chase.
Posted by: Vincent McBurney | March 17, 2007 4:05 AM | Permalink to Comment