“Mustafizur benefits more from IPL than national duty, there is less pressure there”

Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam believes Mustafizur Rahman enjoys playing in the Indian Premier League more than playing for his country as the pressure is less in the franchise-based T20 tournament compared to that he faces when he present for Bangladesh.

Mustafizur has so far picked 11 wickets in six matches for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL. Throughout this season he demonstrated his abilities at the highest level against tough opponents, even if he had an ordinary year on the international circuit.

“I watch every match and every ball played by Mustafizur. I talk to him the day after the matches,” Shoriful said. “I think he (Mustafizur) enjoys playing in the IPL more than playing for the Bangladesh team. That’s because the pressure is less there. Maybe there are a lot of expectations when the “We’re playing for Bangladesh and you’re under immense pressure if you don’t play well,” he said.

“He (Mustafizur) is playing regularly. It’s just that he hasn’t been able to play in the last two or three games (for the national team). What I mean by pressure is that everyone’s expectations are quite high because of his performance on “Maybe he didn’t live up to expectations in the last two games,” he concluded.

Mustafizur will have three more games to add to his tally before returning home. CSK’s match against PBKS on May 1 will be the last of the season, before joining the national team for the Zimbabwe series which begins on May 3.