Shoriful silences doubts with 26-wicket BPL campaign

Shoriful Islam had a point to prove.

The left-arm quick had an iffy last 12 months at the top. He was with the T20 side but was not an obvious choice in the best XI.

He consistently had to fight for his place as senior left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman has been in rock-solid form across conditions and opponents, especially at the death. And Bangladesh has a few other options when it comes to new-ball bowling.

Meaning, Shoriful, who is known for his new-ball skills, fell down the pecking order despite his strong power-play credentials.

On top of that, Shoriful was struggling with injury. He needed to prove his fitness to regain trust as a bankable leading bowler.

He did that in the recently concluded Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) as he broke the record for highest wicket-taker and was named Player of the Tournament with 26 scalps for Chattogram Royals.

“I wanted to play all the matches. I wanted to stay fit till the end,” Shoriful told Daily Sun. “That was my goal and I am happy that I did that,” he added.

What made Shoriful’s BPL campaign stand out was not just the volume of wickets, but how he took them. The left-armer bowled in all phases of the innings — swinging the new ball in the power-play, hitting the deck in the middle overs and returning at the death when pressure was at its peak.

Despite being used as a strike bowler, Shoriful also maintained one of the better economy rates among frontline pacers in the tournament.

“I didn’t come into the tournament thinking I had to be the highest wicket-taker,” he said at the post-final press conference. “My only target was to stay fit and finish every match. I didn’t have any personal milestones in mind. If I could make small contributions in every game, that was enough for me.”

His ability to remain available throughout the tournament was itself a victory after the injury-hit period he has endured over the past few years.

“Before the 2022 World Cup, I was in very good shape,” Shoriful recalled. “But in a practice match, my hand got injured on the last ball. It was an accident. I was trying to give my best and it just happened. This time, Alhamdulillah, I am doing well again, though there is always fear about injuries.”

He played almost a dozen matches without a break and now plans to use the short window ahead to recover. “I have played nearly 12 matches continuously, so I will take some rest to recover and improve my fitness,” he said.

One spell, in particular, will stay with him from this BPL.

“In T20 cricket, taking five wickets is very hard,” he said. “So I will keep that bowling figure very close to me.”

Despite being named Player of the Tournament, Shoriful admitted the award felt incomplete without the trophy.

“Of course it feels good,” he said. “But if we had become champions, it would have felt much better. Every player wants to lift the trophy. They played better than us in the final and they deserved it.”

Beyond individual brilliance, Shoriful also pointed to the stability around his team as a factor behind his performance. With the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) running the BPL this season, payment issues — a recurring problem in franchise cricket — were removed.

“When BCB took charge, we were all relaxed,” he said. “Usually there are payment concerns in BPL. This time we felt it was our own team. We trained and played with that mindset.”

He also credited a personal analyst for helping him maintain consistency.

“Earlier, if I had a few good matches, one bad match would come,” he said. “This time I focused on how to maintain my form. I talk to a personal analyst, who gives me very good advice.”