Junayed Siddique: The Next Superstar of BD Cricket

[Sohel]

The extremely reliable BCB grapevine has it that he's ready to make his debut in the T20 World Championship. He is THE next big thing to hit BD cricket, NO wishful thinking here. He is the new Mehrab Hossain Opi before the tragedy. He is bound to out-Opi the stylist former opener in terms of talent, technique and possibly temperament.

Strengths: Swashbuckling, supremely talented natural opener who sees the quicker deliveries early and plays the shorter ones without panicking. He generally does not like to go fishing outside the off stump like most of our batsmen. Technically he's superior to Tamim Iqbal and looks good and safe when spanking the spankable beyond the rope. He adjusts his backlift according to the delivery and plays the cut shot as late as he needs to. His formidable hook shot and lofted drives over mid wicket are juicy and delicious to watch. He also rotates the strike well. He has a bit of an issue with shuffling around when playing defensive shots, but everything tends to fall in place when the delivery gets to his bat, Alok Kapali-style. Like Kapali, he's an excellent fielder.

Mitigating factors: Like most of his compatriots, Junayed has sudden, unpredictable issues with shot selection, and strike as opposed to containment-oriented genuine spin bowling where he has to focus and depend on acute judgment of flight and torsion variations. He's also very young with limited experience dealing with a cricket culture short on patience. That said, I'd still bank on his talent and love of the game to rectify his issues faster than most.

Stats and List A performances from the NCL: He plays First Class (4 day) and List A (limited over) cricket for Rajshahi and club cricket for Mohamedan. I won't go into his club stats and legitimize the DPCL, although he has done extremely well in both 50 and 20 over formats.

In 16 innings of FC cricket, he has averaged 34.36 with two 50s and one 100 with a highest score of 114* with an average strike rate of 55.23. He has a bright future as a useful test opener, if groomed correctly over the next 3 to 5 years.

His List A average strike rate is 76.80. He has averaged 22.73 from 15 matches with two 50s and one 100 with a highest score of 104.

1. Rajshahi V. Khulna: 50 from 63 balls, SR 79.36, 5-4s and 0-6.
Link:http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ch/267247.html

2. Rajshahi V. Barisal: 70 from 79 balls, SR 88.60, 7-4s and 1-6.
Link:http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ch/267250.html

3. Rajshahi V. Sylhet: 8 from 12 balls, SR 66.66, 2-4s and 0-6.
Link:http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ch/267253.html

4. Rajshahi V. Chittagong: 104 from 97 balls, SR 107.21, 10-4s and 3-6s.
Link:http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ch/267256.html

5. Rajshahi V. Dhaka: 5 from 10 balls, SR 50.00, 0-4 and 0-6.
Link:http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/bang...ch/267259.html