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:

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:

Pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib starred for BCB Red as he claimed a five-wicket haul against BCB Green on the second day of three-day practice match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Tuesday.

It was an easy presumption to put Bangladesh’s bowling as their main weapon ahead of the T20 World Cup, especially since the batters have provided very little to be excited about in recent times.

The incident took place in the third over of the Nepal chase, where amidst a spirited spell Tanzim had a mid-pitch conversation with Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel.

Rony ran through Gazi Tyres, claiming 7-20 -- the third best figures in a List A game for a Bangladeshi and his personal best

In the series, the pacers excelled in the first two phases of the innings – the first and second Powerplays - and this success shielded them from getting tested in the most happening phase of play, aka the death overs.

Pacer Hasan Mahmud has been called up to the Bangladesh squad to replace the injured Tanzim Hasan Sakib for the third ODI against Sri Lanka, said a press release from the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

Pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib has been ruled out of the third and series-deciding ODI against Sri Lanka with a hamstring injury.

As impressive as he was in Bangladesh's win in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Wednesday, pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib was equally ineffective in the second of the three-match series in Chattogram yesterday.

Ahead of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto was asked whether Mustafizur Rahman was an automatic choice, a suggestion he declined and said did not apply to anyone in the team. With Mustafizur not making the lineup in the series opener in Chattogram yesterday, Tanzim Hasan Sakib responded with the ball and the rest of the bowling unit followed suit.

Bangladesh pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib made his way into Bangladesh Cricket Board’s (BCB) central contract for ODIs on Monday.

Young seamer Tanzim Hasan Sakib expressed his satisfaction after bagging a player-of-the-match performance as Bangladesh crushed New Zealand by nine wickets in the third ODI in Napier today.

Sri Lanka batter Charith Asalanka's second ODI ton helped his side to 279 in their ICC World Cup encounter against Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Monday. 

From a team that only ever tried to ‘spin to win’, Bangladesh have now evolved into a pace-centric attack heading into the ICC World Cup in India.

Four days after screenshots of Bangladesh pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib’s misogynistic social media posts went viral, Bangladesh Cricket Board faced the media yesterday, but could only offer what amounted to a mere apology on the player’s behalf. 

A Bangladeshi cricketer was embroiled in controversy Monday over misogynistic social media posts condemning working women, just days after making a brilliant international debut.

Young pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib boarded the flight for Colombo on 1 pm today to join the Bangladesh team for the Asia Cup campaign.

Bangladesh fast bowler Ebadot Hossain has been ruled out of the upcoming Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka due to a knee injury. The national selection panel of BCB has named uncapped pacer Tanzim Hasan Sakib as Ebadot’s replacement.