Shoriful trying to master cutters from the cutter master Mustafiz

Shoriful Islam was very impressive in the recently concluded Zimbabwe tour and has been in phenomenal form in the ongoing T20I series against Australia.

He has the knack of getting breakthroughs and formed an excellent bowling partnership with Mustafizur Rahman.

Ahead of the fifth and final T20I, the left-arm seamer stated that it's his 'positive mindset' that keeps him going.

He is enjoying his bowling partnership with Mustafizur and getting to learn a lot from him. "I am trying to master cutters from him. His cutter is very different. I have been trying to bowl that at the nets. He said that the cutter is very deadly against the right-handers as it stops a bit and then changes its direction," said Shoriful.

"Wherever I play, whenever I bowl, I try to stay positive. It has happened many times. I was hit for runs early in the innings and then bounced back strongly. I don't let that pressure mount on me and always tell myself that I could still win my team the game. No matter how my performance is, I always stay positive," he added.

The 20-year old was one of Bangladesh's heroes in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup and said that the series win against Australia is on par with that World Cup win: "That was our first World Cup win at any level of cricket. And this is of course the first series victory against Australia. So I think both of them are huge achievements and I think they are equally important to me."

The left-arm fast bowler mentioned that the senior players add a lot of value to the side in terms of motivating and inspiring the team. He said, "Shakib (Al Hasan) Bhai, (Mahmudullah) Riyad Bhai always motivate us no matter how small a total we are defending. You know, when players of their stature keep faith in the young players, it gives them a lot of courage."