He was a complete allrounder during his age-level cricket. He used to bat at number four and amassed ample runs. He used to bowl 10 overs in 50-over games regularly and scalped many wickets. His bowling was more effective than his batting. Still, the 23-year-old allrounder never was a fan of the idea that he could break into the world’s top bowlers. 

And yet, Mehidy Hasan Miraz is now the number two ODI bowler in the world as per the latest ranking updates by the International Cricket Council published on May 26. In his immediate reaction, Mehidy said: “Praise be to Allah. I’m excited to know that I’m now the number two ODI bowler in the world, but I never thought that I could reach this height.”

Read:Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka 2021: 3rd ODI Match Preview

There were many reasons behind Mehidy’s thinking of himself that he couldn’t become a top-class bowler. One of the main of those reasons was his mindset. He had been thinking only to contain the runs for a long time. He never believed that he could be the bowler who can take wickets and trap the batsmen the way he wants, only bringing some changes into his bowling. 

But things started to change ahead of Bangladesh’s last tour to Sri Lanka for a two-match Test series when spin-bowling consultant Daniel Vettori was unable to join the team due to travel restrictions imposed to tackle the Covid-19 situation around the globe. It came as a blessing in disguise for Mehidy who got the service of his childhood coach Sohel Islam in Sri Lanka. BCB appointed Sohel as a substitute for Vettori. 

“We started to work together ahead of the Sri Lanka Tests,” Sohel told the media after coming to know Mehidy’s new achievement of becoming the number two bowler in the world. “The only problem was his mindset. He used to be more aggressive to take wickets, which eventually forces him to make mistakes. So the first thing we wanted to do is fix his mindset.”

In the first match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Mehdiy bowled 58 overs and conceded 161 to take only one wicket. This lean display in the middle made him upset about his bowling. At this stage, Sohel came in and advised Mehidy to focus on his bowling and forget the results. 

“The track of Sri Lanka was not helping his bowling. So it was easy for him to get upset and try many things to get a wicket. But I talked to him and instructed him to stay patient and wait for the help of the wicket. I also advised him to keep bowling at the right areas and wait for the batsmen giving a chance,” Sohel added. 

Mehidy came to the scene with his tremendous all-round performance during his days at the U-19 level. He was Bangladesh’s first U-19 captain to lead the Junior Tigers at the World Cup semi-finals in 2016, which was Bangladesh’s best World Cup performance then. 

Read:ICC ODI rankings: Mehidy becomes No. 2 bowler

In the same year, Mehdiy stormed to the national team and registered a six-wicket haul conceding 80 runs in his Test debut against England in Chattogram. In the very next game, Mehidy returned match figures 12/159, which helped the Tigers to record their first-ever Test win against England. Just playing two games, Mehidy became a regular face in Bangladesh’s Test side. 

“When I started to play Tests, I was only a Test bowler,” Mehdiy recalled after achieving career-best ranking. “But I always have a dream to play every format of the game and play it with desired success. When I started playing ODIs, I focused much on my economy rate, I wanted to contain runs as much as possible.”

To date, Mehidy has played 26 Tests and 13 of them at home where he bagged 71 wickets with seven five-wicket hauls at the bowling-average of 22.09. But abroad has been a different story, where he played 13 other Tests and bagged only 33 wickets with a five-wicket haul at an average of 61.15.

“Mehidy used to get puzzled when he failed to get a wicket and started to bowl at the wrong areas,” Sohel added. “So we worked with him during the Sri Lanka series and tried to fix his mindset, which helped him a lot. We tried to bring some variety on his pace. In the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka, he took off some pace and it helped him get some wickets. So I think he is learning quickly and still he has to do many things.”

Sohel believes that Mehidy has the ability to become more effective as a bowler if he continues to learn and improve his game. According to him, the main challenge that Mehidy would face in the coming days is to do well in overseas games. 

Read:Tigers seal ODI series with easy win

From a premium Test bowler to the number-two ODI bowler— Mehidy said it’s the result of his patience and being consistent to keep bowling at the right areas. 

Not just a bowler, Mehidy showed remarkable improvement on his batting as well. In Bangladesh’s first Test during the pandemic in Chattogram earlier this year, Mehidy hit his maiden Test ton against West Indies. Four years after he broke into the international circuit, Mehidy finally started to replicate his age-level cricket to the senior level, which clearly indicating that a new version of Mehidy in making.

Saif Hasnat is a Staff Writer at UNB and his Twitter handle is @saifhasnat