New Zealand U19 vs Bangladesh U19: Pace sensation Shoriful Islam sends RA Mariu's leg-stump cartwheeling

Shoriful Islam is widely seen as one of the most talented youngsters in Bangladesh cricket at the moment. The left-arm pacer has been going from strength to strength although he is yet to break into the senior Bangladesh side. He made his first-class debut for Rajshahi Division in the 2017–18 National Cricket League as a 16-year old and has not looked back since then.

In the same season, he also made his List A debut while representing Prime Bank Cricket Club in the Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League. The teenager went on to make a huge mark in the tournament as he finished it as the joint-leading wicket-taker for his club. The southpaw finished the competition with 17 dismissals in 8 matches.

He was soon fast-tracked in Bangladesh A side as he made his T20 debut for the team in August last year. He was also picked in the preliminary squad for the Asia Cup but failed to make the final cut. It looks like Bangladesh are taking their time with the highly-rated pacer. They perhaps want the youngster to be fully groomed before unleashing him in international cricket.

A glimpse of the future

Well, it looks like Shoriful Islam is raring to break into the senior side and his latest exploit with the ball is bound to make Bangladesh team-management try him out. The pacer is currently in New Zealand with the Bangladesh U19 side. On Sunday, the two teams locked horns in the first one-day match. Shoriful Islam turned out to be one of the most impressive performers.

He picked up three wickets for 44 runs from 9 overs. The pick of the lot was his delivery to dismiss New Zealand U19 allrounder RA Mariu. On the final ball of the very first over, Islam bowled a straighter delivery that Mariu wanted to defend. However, the ball cut back just at the last moment and sent the leg-stump cartwheeling.

Here’s the video

Talking about the game, Bangladesh U19 beat the hosts by 6 wickets. New Zealand were all out for just 176 in 48 overs. In reply. Bangladesh rode on Akbar Ali’s unbeaten fifty to chase down the total with ease. They crossed the finishing line by losing just 4 wickets and with more than 10 overs remaining.