Mustafizur had already created waves in the international circuit after troubling some of the best Indian batsmen with his guile and bowling variations in the home series and Asia Cup in Bangladesh. The good run only continued and the IPL call-up was almost a no-brainer. In the Sunrisers Hyderabad set up, he has blended with ease among other bowlers and the results are there to be seen. Such has been his bowling prowess that even his own teammates are left puzzled while facing him at the nets.

“I had faced Fizz only for a couple of balls in the T20 World Cup and then just faced two balls from him at the nets. He bowled a bouncer and a slower ball. The first one almost hit me in the head and the second one I didn’t get bat on,” Warner told IPLT20.com explaining how tricky it is to face him. “He is a quality talent and obviously a very good bowler for Bangladesh and for us as well. He is bowling very well at the moment and sometimes it is quite hard to talk to him about fielding placements but I let him do that. That is the quality in him.”

For teammate Moises Henriques it was all about focus and concentration while facing the left-arm pacer. “He is a world-class bowler. I had never seen him bowling live but I saw him bowl on TV during the T20 World Cup. You do get used to his variations a little bit while playing him at the nets but you still have to be prepared for anything that comes your way and hit it. As a batsman you can’t just sit there waiting for the slower ball because his fast one is still quick as we saw him bowling that quick yorker to Andre Russell. You’ve got to be watching really hard. He is not someone who is just slow either. With some bowlers you can wait for their slower balls and then react to their quicker one which might not be as quick. But, Mustafizur is sharp with both and the batsman will have to watch hard.”

How does communication between the Captain-Bowler duo work on the field with Mustafizur comfortable speaking only Bangla? “It comes before the game - it is called Google translation. I got a friend at home who speaks Bangla and I get him to text me a little bit,” Warner joked. “But on a serious note, when you are on the field and observing him, you know that he is someone who knows what he has got to do. He sets his fields himself. If I disagree with one of the field placements, he understands it on the field and it becomes pretty easy to communicate. I can only judge him by what I see out there. For me, it is about him backing himself and allowing him to do what he knows best. That’s the way to go about it with him. I can’t deliver the ball for him.”

For Warner what set Mustafizur a class apart was his ability to think on his feet and keep the batsmen guessing at all times. “I think it is his nature of changing deliveries that makes him unplayable. It is the change-ups. He says that he is much more comfortable against right-handers but it is while bowling to the left-handers that he senses to use his mind and the need to adapt a lot more to deliver what he thinks is best.”

There has been a pattern to Warner using Mustafizur during the course of an innings; just one over at the beginning and then preserving him for the death or at times give him short bursts of two overs between over 6 and 15 and then get him bowling at the far end. Warner explained why. “The way we have bowled has dictated that pattern. It has been easy for me to use him like that. We will change it a little bit if a team gets off to a good start but that is just the way I use him. I try and keep him for the back end. If I feel I need wickets up early then I will use him by giving two overs at the front. But, at the moment it is not just Fizz who is bowling well, we have five other bowlers who are bowling well. We have some armory in the tank.”

Against Kings XI Punjab, after bowling a wicket maiden in the sixth over, Mustafizur came back to bowl overs 14, 16 and 20 giving away just 9 runs and adding another wicket to his kitty. Henriques in particular was mighty pleased with Mustafizur’s bowling at the death. “I would like to see some stats of bowling sides when teams have scored a 140 and a bowler has bowled three overs at the death and has gone for only nine runs. It is fantastic. Tonight we might have been chasing 160 but he just dragged it back and that might have been the difference tonight,” Henriques said.

“We have been bowling well at the start and taking early wickets. The boys have been doing a fantastic job with the ball and it makes our job a lot easier for us at the top of the order to chase totals under 150. If we can keep doing that we can go a long way into the tournament,” Warner added.