Tidy Taijul keeps performing

Taijul Islam is the guy who would not stand out in a crowd. He is not the guy the cameras seek. Not the one that fans put on a pedestal.

His bowling, simply, is a reciprocation of his personality. Nothing flashy, nothing magical, nothing over the top. If one was to look at him in practice, he would be a perfect portrayal of his bowling, left-arm orthodox.

But that’s where Taijul is brilliant. He does the simple things well. He keeps doing them well. Over and over again.

And that has been his recipe for success. Not a mystery delivery. Nothing out of the extraordinary. Just keeping his lines and lengths right. Just keeping it tight, which has brought him 166 wickets with the white jersey of Bangladesh, including the four he picked on Friday against India.

The first was a simple delivery in the ideal corridor which KL Rahul tried to come out and smother, but the ball hit the pad, and albeit the umpire refused at first, a review turned the decision in Taijul’s favour.

Next was Shubhman Gill, who tried to sweep the spinner thinking the ball would go on straight, but it turned, and this time the umpire said yes.

His dismissal of Pujara was also a straightforward one with a simple delivery, which the batter edged to short leg, where Mominul Haque took a good catch. And the fourth, a sharp-spinning delivery that Umesh Yadav, trying to hoick out of the park, edged to Liton Das at slip.

None of the wickets was of brilliant deliveries. But they came because Taijul kept nibbling at it with accuracy. And he has been doing that throughout his career.

The four wickets took him 22 wickets this year, only behind Mehidy Hasan Miraz in the list for Bangladesh despite playing three Tests less.

Last year, he had 30 in six Tests, meaning five per match, better than his 4.15 per Test career record.

Over the last five years, he is Bangladesh’s best spinner, picking up 112 wickets, 14 more than second-placed Miraz, despite playing three Tests less.

As a left-arm spinner, Taijul has often been overlooked in overseas conditions when Shakib Al Hasan plays. But whenever he gets the chance, Taijul manages to hide in the scorecard with wickets by his name.

Even when asked about his bowling performance at the end of the second day of their second Test against India, Taijul spoke about the team rather than himself.

“Everything is all right. When you are playing a big team, all five bowlers won’t play the same. Maybe somebody won’t bowl as well as the others. But everybody is bowling equally well. I think we are doing very well considering we are playing a big team,” Taijul said.