Barring the final last night, I did not watch a single match of the IPL. I did follow the news and read up on the match results, which was enough evidence for me to realize that Mustafizur Rahman has been absolutely exceptional in the IPL.

With 17 wickets he ended the IPL as the 5th highest wicket taker; but what was most remarkable was his economy rate of 6.9, which was the best among all fast bowlers that bowled at least 10 overs in the tournament. The only bowler that bettered that economy rate was Adam Zampa with 6.76.

It is quite rare for a fast bowler from Bangladesh to be considered a global threat. There have been a number of spinners from Bangladesh that have shone in international cricket, but rarely a fast bowler.

Mustafizur Rahman however is a rare case. The boys is extremely good and arguably the best left arm pacer in the world today.

His international career is its nascent stages having played only 2 tests, 9 ODIs, and 13 T20Is. The numbers though that he has stacked up in his short career are commendable to say the least.

In 9 ODIs he has 26 wickets at an average of 12.34, a strike rate of 17.3 and an economy of 4.26.

In 13 T20Is he has 22 wickets at an average of 13.95, a strike rate of 14.0, and an economy of 5.98.

Boys his age dream of playing international cricket, let alone about achieving such a start to their international careers.

Mustafizur has been exceptional.

Those numbers suggest that if he can manage to remain fit, he will break a number of bowling records.

This is what those numbers mean right now:

Best Average ever in ODIs
Mustafizur has bowled 452 deliveries in ODIs and has picked up 26 wickets. For anyone who has bowled that many deliveries and picked up that many wickets, he has the BEST Average ever. No one even comes close to his 12.3. The next best averages among all bowlers that have bowled at least 450 deliveries or taken at least 25 wickets are 17.8, 18.2, and 18.3 - Geoff Arnold, Richard Hadlee, and Otis Gibson respectively.

Incredible beyond words!

Best Strike Rate ever in ODIs
Mustafizur has bowled 452 deliveries in ODIs and has picked up 26 wickets. For anyone who has bowled that many deliveries and picked up that many wickets, he has the BEST Strike Rate ever. No one even comes close to his 17.3. The next best strike rates among all bowlers that have bowled at least 450 deliveries or taken at least 25 wickets are 21.7, 23.4, and 24.2 - Otis Gibson, Ryan Harris, Corey Anderson and Mitchell Starc respectively.

To put it in layman terms, Mustafizur picks up an ODI wicket in every 3rd over he bowls. That is beyond SUPER!

Best Average ever in T20Is
No one, absolutely no one has a better average than Mustafizur's in T20Is. That 13.95 average is the best in the world for anyone who has taken at least 10 wickets in T20Is.

Mustafizur has bowled over 50 overs and taken over 20 wickets in T20Is. Among all bowlers who have done at least one of those in T20Is, the next best averages are 14.4 (Ajantha Mendis), 14.7 (Samuel Badree), and 15.2 (Al Amin Hossain).

Besides being a huge cricket fan, I am also a big Bollywood buff. I absolutely love Bollywood and enjoy the masala entertainers dished out every Friday. Unlike cricket, Bollywood rarely disappoints me. I don't mind the protagonist walking around in a crisply ironed white shirt after a long action sequence or that the main stars break out into an impromptu dance routine, along with the rest of city, to proclaim their love for each other.

I find all this thoroughly entertaining.

When a movie like Azhar hits the screens, it is a double whammy for a person like me. Cricket and Bollywood in one! Its like having the perfect combo meal - KFC with McDonalds' fries and a biscuit from Popeye's!

Azhar's life - an arranged marriage, an affair with a Bollywood actress, a dream cricket debut, rise to the Indian captaincy, and the match fixing scandal - had it all to muster up a true blue bollywood masala entertainer.

Yet it was such a major disappointment!

My biggest problem with Azhar (the movie) is that it goes out of its way to show Azharuddin's innocence that it leaves a bad taste. A real bad taste.

In fact it attempts to fool the viewers and glorifies Azharuddin as an innocent man. One should have expected this considering Azharuddin was involved in training Emraan Hashmi and heavily involved in helping with the storyline.

Here's how Azhar fooled the public, AGAIN!

CBI and all available public reports state that Azharuddin was investigated for fixing the following three ODIs:

1. India vs South Africa, first match of the Titan Cup, 1996
2. India vs Sri Lanka, Pepsi Asia Cup, 1997
3. India vs Pakistan, Pepsi Cup, 1999

CBI also claimed that Azharuddin confessed to fixing these 3 ODIs; however Azharuddin has denied this in an interview.

The movie starts well by stating that Azharuddin is being investigated for these 3 matches.

But then, in a sour attempt to fool the public, the movie ignores these actual ODIs and uses results of different ODIs to portray Azhar's innocence.

Did Tony and Azhar actually think they would get away with shit like this!!?

India vs South Africa
In the actual match, India lost by 47 runs. Azhar scored 32 off 55 balls and was caught by Cullinan of Crookes.

The movie shows that Azhar was out LBW to a wrong decision (off the inside edge) and the crowd caused disruption because of this, with Azhar's lawyer arguing how could he have fixed the game if he was wrongly given out.

In reality, this occurred in the India vs Australia match of the Titan Cup where Azharuddin was wrongly given out LBW to Jason Gillespie and crowd disruption stopped play for 20 minutes.

Please don't miss the "Match Notes" at the end of that scorecard:


How sad and pathetic is it that the movie chooses an event that took place in an ODI between India and Australia, and makes it look like that it occurred in the India vs South Africa match that was allegedly fixed by Azhar.

I am disgusted!

India vs Sri Lanka
In the Pepsi Asia Cup in 1997, India played Sri Lanka twice: a group game that Sri Lanka won by 6 wickets and then the Final that Sri Lanka won by 8 wickets. In both games, Azhar scored 80 odd runs with the rest of India's batting failing. Another key fact of this tournament is that India's captain was Sachin Tendulkar and not Azharuddin.

The movie, however, ignores these matches and the Pepsi Asia Cup altogether and instead shows an India vs Sri Lanka ODI played in London in 1998. This fictional match was a Final of a Jubilee Cup, Azhar was captain, and Azhar single handedly won India a match they looked like losing while chasing a target of 280 odd as the bookie and the underworld Don looked on in disbelief from the stands.

HA!

Firstly, neither India nor Sri Lanka toured England in 1998. Secondly, the Jubilee Cup that was played in 1998 involved India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh; there was no Sri Lanka.

Thirdly, the match showed in the movie picks up events that took place in an India vs Sri Lanka ODI played in the Champions Trophy in Sharjah in 1998, where Sachin and Ganguly got out early and Azharuddin's 94 helped successfully chase a target of 245.

Again the movie showcases events from another ODI and attempts to mislead the public into believing that they are from the allegedly fixed ODI.

Come on, seriously!?

If it wasn't enough that Azhar screwed India in the 90s that he has come out to do it once again!

Did they think cricket fans will not be able to tell the difference between the matches?

What Bullshit.

Oh and that India vs Pakistan match was completely ignored by the way.

Can't even say that Tony Dsouza took liberties as a director and re-created ODIs considering that the events were blatantly copied from other ODIs. To top it all the ODI vs West Indies that Manoj Prabhakar allegedly fixed was shown in the movie exactly how it played out in reality!

So while one ODI is replicated to show that Prabhakar was a fixer, other matches were recreated with events from other different ODIs to show that Azharuddin was innocent.

WHAT UTTER BULLSHIT !

Seems like Azharuddin ne chay banane ka thaika liya hua hai. Pehle cricket se, ab Bollywood se.