Nayeem Hasan demonstrated his worth by securing a five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka, providing Bangladesh with a significant advantage on a batting-friendly wicket during the first Test in Galle on Friday.
Had Mehidy Hasan Miraz not been ill, 25-year-old Nayeem might not have got the chance to play in this Test.
He might not be in the eleven for the second Test if Mehidy gets well in time. That鈥檚 how Nayeem鈥檚 career has been.聽
Nayeem was one of four spinners for Bangladesh when he made his debut in his hometown, Chattogram, against West Indies in a 64-run victory.
He took a five-fer in the first innings, becoming the eighth bowler from Bangladesh to achieve the feat on debut.
However, the lanky off-spinner is yet to establish himself as the first-choice spinner, as this has been Nayeem鈥檚 only second away Test in his career, which is now almost seven years old.
Interestingly, in his previous away Test, he didn鈥檛 get the opportunity to bowl, as he was concussed while batting against India at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in 2019.
Yet, in his first 鈥榩roper鈥� away Test, he had to bowl the most number of overs in an innings of his career, 43.2 overs.
Nayeem came as the fourth bowler in the innings and started leaking runs, his first 10 overs costing 42.
But he made the important breakthrough on the third day as he broke the 157-run partnership between Pathum Nissanka and Dinesh Chandimal by dismissing the latter.
Then on the fourth day, Nayeem came to the fore again as he scalped Dhananjaya De Silva, Kamindu Mendis and the tailenders to complete his five-wicket haul.
Nayeem, who doesn鈥檛 consider himself 鈥榰nlucky鈥� with his career path, said that his plans finally paid off.
鈥業 tried to bowl in one good spot and then adjust my variation there. I tried changing the seam position from time to time. My line depended on who I was bowling to. I had different plans for each batter,鈥� Nayeem said after the day鈥檚 play.
He also said that drying up the runs was his main agenda.
鈥業t was a batting-friendly wicket, so we tried to bowl consistently in one area. When you cut off the runs, the batter gets under pressure,鈥� he said. 鈥楬e tries to do something different, which can lead to a mistake. That was my plan.鈥�
However, Nayeem pointed out that this is not the type of pitch they typically encounter in domestic circuits.
He said, 鈥榃e have to bowl well for a long time in our first-class cricket. We sometimes get help from the pitches. We got a great pitch here. Field placings then also become important. Wickets come after a lot of consistent line聽and length.鈥�
After Nayeem鈥檚 heroics, Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto opened the gate for Bangladesh with twin fifties.
Nayeem remained hopeful of a win. He said, 鈥榃e have every opportunity to go for the win once we have a good total on board. A lot of things can happen on the fifth-day wicket. We have a positive mindset going into the last day. It depends on how we start the day.鈥�
鈥業t is still a good wicket. But there are a few cracks. It will be the fifth day鈥檚 wicket tomorrow. We have to give them a target to put them under pressure,鈥� he added.
