From journeyman to juggernaut

Yasir Ali Chowdhury had been a journeyman in the Bangladesh squad for almost two years before his Test debut in November. And within five months, he is showing promises to become the long-awaited juggernaut.

The growing prominence of Twenty20 in modern-day cricket has made batting not always about style and elegance. There is a growing necessity for muscle power, and Yasir can very well fill that void in the Bangladesh team.

With a wider body frame and muscular torso, Yasir can produce the raw power with his bat swing to hit the ball out of the park. He negotiated the short balls from South African bowlers very well on Friday and converted them into fruitful deliveries.

Batsmen from the sub-continent often struggle against short length deliveries in South Africa, and Temba Bavuma laid that trap with Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada at SuperSport Park, but Yasir outplayed them all.

Liton Das, Tamim Iqbal, and Shakib Al Hasan all scored handsome runs, but Yasir was the brute force that took the team total beyond 300 runs in the first One-Day International against South Africa, where he scored 50 runs from 44 balls, his first ODI fifty.

“I worked with (Albie) Morkel (Power hitting coach) for a couple of days. He said one thing, try to hit the ball as straight as possible because that is the best option. You can’t learn everything in just three days. The main thing was to hit as straight as possible,” Yasir said.

“AB de Villiers came to our hotel the other day. He said some stuff that really helped me. I didn’t do well in the Afghanistan series. So, this knock will boost my confidence,” added Yasir.

Yasir handled the situation well in South Africa.and went on to get his first ODI fifty. Shakib and captain Tamim Iqbal also said that Yasir’s innings was very special.

But Yasir kept his feet on the ground and said, “I am not very emotional as a person. Obviously memorable innings, I am speechless. But to me, It’s just a fifty. That’s it.”