Bangladesh’s speedster Nahid Rana has been picked by Peshwar Zalmi in the ongoing players draft for the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League, set to begin in April.

Pace sensation Nahid Rana said he is ready to embrace increasing workloads instead of being overly cautious by the frequent injuries taking out quick bowlers worldwide. 

Pace sensation Nahid Rana took four wickets to lead Rangpur Riders to a 34-run win over Sylhet Strikers in the Bangladesh Premier League in Mirpur on Tuesday.

In a conversation with The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan on Wednesday, the pace sensation opened up about the flying start to his Bangladesh career and what he plans to achieve in 2025. The excerpts are as follows: 

One of Aesop's renowned fables, 'The goose that laid the golden egg', imparts a timeless lesson: too much greed can ruin one's fortune. It also highlights the value of patience -- a virtue the Bangladesh Cricket Board could embrace to nurture the immense potential of one of their brightest prospects, Nahid Rana.

The workload management of Nahid Rana, Bangladesh’s fastest bowler, will be key in the coming days to keep the 22-year-old away from burnout and injuries, experts have said. 

Bangladesh speedster Nahid Rana breathed fire on Day 3 of the second Test in Jamaica against the West Indies, claiming his maiden five-wicket in the format and earning Tigers a precious first innings lead.

Buoyed by that effort, the Bangladesh top-order batting then displayed the sort of shot-making confidence previously unseen in this brief series to reach stumps at 193 for five in the second innings, a lead of 211 with five wickets in hand.

Bangladesh pace sensation Nahid Rana and 11 others from the country were named in the final auction list of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, starting next year. 

Getting some extra bounce -- that’s what Bangladesh pacers were seemingly after during their previous Test tour of the West Indies in 2022.

Although the ODI series against Afghanistan ended in disappointment for Bangladesh, as they suffered a five-wicket defeat in the third ODI and lost the three-match series 2-1, it marked a promising start in the 50-over format for the country’s newest pace sensation Nahid Rana.

Bangladesh will be bolstered by the presence of pacer Nahid Rana and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed for the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series against Afghanistan as both cricketers are set to travel to the UAE tomorrow on a 10:00 am flight after receiving their visas on Wednesday.

Bangladesh’s all-format pacer Shoriful Islam witnessed a few ups and downs this year due to injuries. The 23-year-old pacer hurt his finger during a warm-up match before the ICC T20 World Cup. Although he had recovered and was available for selection from the second match, he ended up warming the benches for the whole tournament. After average stints in LPL and GT20 Canada following the World Cup, Shoriful was brilliant in the opening Test against Pakistan but missed the second one due to a groin injury. The left-arm pacer wasn’t picked for the India Tests to heal up completely for the three-match T20I series against the same team. Before leaving for India with the rest of the T20 squad, Shoriful spoke with The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan about his topsy-turvy year. Here are the excerpts:

Bangladesh’s latest pace sensation Nahid Rana said that although he admires all the pacers of the national team, he emulates none and wants to remain as himself in international cricket.

Nahid Rana stunned the cricketing world with his raw pace during Bangladesh’s historic 2-0 Test series triumph over hosts Pakistan, clocking over 150 kmph while also claiming his career-best figures in the second Test. Even though Bangladesh cricket has been reaping the benefits of forming a potent pace group across formats in recent years, the factors behind the emergence of talented quicks have not been focused on a large scale. The Test series triumph against Pakistan in Rawalpindi would not have materialised if pacers like Hasan Mahmud, Nahid, Shoriful Islam, and Taskin Ahmed had not outshone the quicks of Pakistan -- a country historically known as the ‘land of pacers’. What comes as a hopeful sign for fans and a sweet headache for the team management is that these four aforementioned pacers are not the only ones available in the Tigers’ pace tank. Khaled Ahmed, who was also part of this Pakistan series, Ebadot Hossain, currently rehabilitating from an ACL injury that saw him out of action for more than a year, and white-ball regulars Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman are all part of the Tigers’ current pace battery. While they gel together in the national team under the guidance of foreign coaches, the story of their emergence began under local coaches to whom they turn to whenever needed. The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan reached out to Nahid, and the excerpts of his interview are provided below:

Nahid Rana stunned the cricketing world with his raw pace during Bangladesh’s historic 2-0 Test series triumph over hosts Pakistan, clocking over 150 kmph while also claiming his career-best figures in the second Test. Even though Bangladesh cricket has been reaping the benefits of forming a potent pace group across formats in recent years, the factors behind the emergence of talented quicks have not been focused on a large scale. The Test series triumph against Pakistan in Rawalpindi would not have materialised if pacers like Hasan Mahmud, Nahid, Shoriful Islam, and Taskin Ahmed had not outshone the quicks of Pakistan -- a country historically known as the ‘land of pacers’. What comes as a hopeful sign for fans and a sweet headache for the team management is that these four aforementioned pacers are not the only ones available in the Tigers’ pace tank. Khaled Ahmed, who was also part of this Pakistan series, Ebadot Hossain, currently rehabilitating from an ACL injury that saw him out of action for more than a year, and white-ball regulars Tanzim Hasan Sakib and Mustafizur Rahman are all part of the Tigers’ current pace battery. While they gel together in the national team under the guidance of foreign coaches, the story of their emergence began under local coaches to whom they turn to whenever needed. In this special issue of The Daily Star Sports, we look at one such local coach, Alamgir Kabir, and one of his disciples, Nahid, who came to the fore through the recent Pakistan series. The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan reached out to Alamgir, and the excerpts of their interviews are provided below:

It still feels surreal that Bangladesh have won their first-ever Test series against Pakistan 2-0 and that too on Pakistan soil.

Nahid Rana took giant strides yesterday in showcasing he is the 'X-factor' in that Bangladesh pace battery. His raw pace hurt Pakistan, but in the manner in which he dismantled the hosts showed there was a matured head on his shoulders.

South African fast bowling legend Allan Donald has been heavily credited for his role in Bangladesh’s pace revolution during his tenure as the team’s pace bowling coach from March 2022 to November 2023. The 57-year-old, who resigned after the ICC World Cup in India, is still a big supporter of the Tigers and keeps in touch with the Bangladesh pacers. On Monday, Donald spoke with The Daily Star’s Samsul Arefin Khan over the phone from Johannesburg, where he expressed immense pleasure at seeing his former pupils doing so well in Pakistan. Here are the excerpts:

For the first time since 2009 an away Test series sweep beckons Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Day 5 of the second Test against Pakistan, but chances of rain playing spoilsport -- as it had done on Monday to wipe out the third session -- can dampen the tourists' party, with Tigers needing 143 more runs to win.