Not many players have a hat-trick or an 8-wicket haul in their entire career and then there is Taijul Islam who achieved both feats within a span of one month, the latter on his ODI debut. It all happened in 2014 when Taijul received a national call up following strong performances in domestic cricket. His ability to keep a check on the scoring while also providing breakthroughs impressed the selectors who felt that his flatter trajectory would be a variety to the other spin options in the side.

Both those huge achievements mentioned earlier happened against Zimbabwe and after that series, he was offered the central contract. Since then, he has been a regular part of the Bangladesh squad though he hasn't always been a starter. Spin is a common commodity in Bangladesh, more so the left-arm tweakers and hence the competition is very stiff for spots. Taijul does have the promise but the margin for error is so less with the amount of talent that he has to compete with.

Taijul has mostly featured only in Tests for Bangladesh. For a player with an ODI hat-trick, it's indeed a strange case that he hasn't played many 50-over games for the country. He has been fairly economical too but perhaps being a one-dimensional cricketer goes against him. There are quite a few spinners in the circuit who are more than handy with the bat and it's this all-round facet of the game where Taijul probably lacks a touch.

By Hariprasad Sadanandan