Bangladesh vs Afghanistan 2023 | The Phenomenal Rise of Fazalhaq Farooqi - Man of the Series
Fazalhaq Farooqi was brilliant in the series against Bangladesh (Source: Twitter)
In the ongoing Afghanistan tour of Bangladesh history was created as Afghanistan won their first ever ODI series against Bangladesh. One of the best performers in the series was the 22 year old Left arm quick Fazalhaq Farooqi. He has been one of the young stars who Afghanistan has looked to back since last year for his ability to swing the ball both ways and take early wickets.
It is still early days for Farooqi in national colours, but he has still shown some promise in his ODI career with 27 wickets from his 16 games at an average of 22.59. He lived up to his potential in this series by setting the match up for his side by taking early wickets at the top and ended up as the leading wicket taker in the series. With a good domestic career and promising performances for his nation it's all about moving forward for the young paceman.
Farooqi: The Shining Star of Consistency
Finest bowlers in 3-match ODI Series
Farooqi was not only the highest wicket taker in the series, but also had one of the best economies in the series. In the 3 matches he played he took 8 wickets at a great economy of 3.42. Apart from his wickets he also had an impressive strike rate of 15.7. The only bowler with a better strike rate and economy than Farooqi was Shoriful Islam who took a 4-fer in the only match he played in the series with an economy of 2.33 and strike rate of 13.5.
According to the stats he had a better strike rate in his team which included world class bowlers such as Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman who had strike rates of 27.0 and 31.2 respectively throughout the series which is a commendable feat in itself. It's also important to compare his performances with the Bangladesh bowlers like Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan who are more experienced but still ended up with slightly higher strike rates of over 35+.
He was more effective with the new ball than Taskin Ahmed who also finished this series with only 3 wickets and had a strike rate of 28. The secret to these stats was the length bowled by Farooqi compared to the other bowlers. In the ODI series most of the pace bowlers were either too full or too short which was easier for the batters to play freely whereas Farooqi always searched for that hard length or that inviting driving length just outside off stump consistently.
Due to this tactic the batsmen struggled to get to the pitch of the ball and also forced the batsman to play. With this plan and his ability to swing the new ball got him the successful results he was looking for and ended up as the man of the series in one of the most historic moments in cricket for Afghanistan.
Conclusion
In this ODI series we saw some of the best display of consistent and attacking bowling from Farooqi which we thought was missing in the early stages of his career. This performance will give him a lot of confidence going forward in the International scene. Even after these promising performances there is still a long way to go for Farooqi as he needs to keep up with the same consistency for the upcoming Series and World Cup. The skill and technique he has as a pacer will take him forward as a player and will be an asset to his team going forward.
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