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‘Pace is pace, yaar.’ 

The English and Urdu mixed saying means something like this — when you’ve got the pace, you don’t need anything else. Of course that’s not true. You’ll need many other things to establish yourself and be effective as a fast bowler. However, a fast bowler’s raw pace will always have a special place in cricket. 

Nahid Rana has shown Bangladesh cricket that no other bowler in history has. To bowl with a speed of above 150 kph is not something that Bangladesh cricket is used to seeing.

When Nahid was hurling thunderbolts at Babar Azam and others in Pakistan, even though the country was going through a difficult period, Bangladesh’s social media was abuzz. They have never seen anything like this before.

It’s little wonder that Alamgir Kabir, Bangladesh’s former Test bowler and current coach, was initially wowed by Nahid’s pace. It was monsoon in Rajshahi and Alamgir was a coach at the Clemon Cricket Academy.

They were playing tape tennis cricket in rain. Alamgir’s group needed a pacer. One of the coaches had sent Nahid to them. 

‘He bowled four deliveries’, Alamgir recalls while talking to ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· from Rajshahi over phone.

‘Our main wicketkeeper was keeping. He could not catch a single one. He [wicketkeeper] told me that Nahid was so quick that he couldn’t see where the balls were going. Then I went to keep myself and I missed the fifth one as well.

‘Then I asked him, Will you be able to bowl with a cricket ball?’ He replied, yes, sir. I asked him to start the next day.’

So began the journey to become Nahid Rana. Soon the name would be heard, the pace would be seen, and the utter joy of moving a ball fast from a bowler’s hand would be felt. But it didn’t happen so quickly.

Alamgir claims Nahid’s action was not as nice as of today, as he had to work very hard on it.

‘I told him to try bowling fast. However, if you do not work on to fine tune other things [run-up, rhythm, etc.] and is called up to the national camp, you will struggle, you’ll lose momentum. You will be unable to maintain the lines and lengths. You have plenty of time. You have to work hard,’ stated Alamgir.

‘He worked hard. We both worked hard. I never wanted to lose a jewel like him.’ 

After going through the age levels in the district and the division, playing in the Youth Cricket League, he was sent to the U-19 national camp.

But Nahid was not picked up for the U-19 World Cup. He was sidelined. But Alamgir didn’t want to lose someone like Nahid. So, he pushed for him to get him into the NCL.

The senior cricketers like Jahurul Islam, Farhad Hossain, Farhad Reza, now national captain Najmul Hossain Shanto, and former captain Khaled Mashud helped him. They trusted Alamgir’s words that Nahid was different. 

Alamgir also didn’t want to do something that would reduce the pace of Nahid.

‘I was a pacer as well. I saw that the coaches tried to do many things in their own way,’ he said.

‘As an example, my inswing was good. Those were sharp. The foreign coach I came under then wanted to work on my outswing. He prioritised that. As a result, both my inswing and outswing got hampered. I lost my pace too. 

‘Then I had thought, if I ever become a coach, I’d first see what the bowler’s body and mind permit. I’d work on those. 

‘A pacer is not a piece of wood that you’d make any furniture out of. I think this way. I don’t want to lose anyone. I focus on fine tuning.’ 

Certainly Nahid will need more and more fine tuning along the way. After all, his Test career is only three matches old. 

After shining in Pakistan, he will now have a tougher challenge in India. Nahid knows that. And he believes the best is yet to come. 

‘I still have my best to give’, he said in a video posted by BCB recently. ‘You cannot announce and bowl fast. It depends on the rhythm.’

As a pacer, though he grew up watching Bangladeshi pacers, Nahid doesn’t follow anyone as a role model. He wants to be himself. 

‘I’m Nahid Rana. I want to be Nahid Rana of Bangladesh,’ said Nahid.

Alamgir, though, thinks that BCB has a greater role to play to protect an asset like Nahid.

‘I only have one request to BCB. You don’t find this type of fast bowler often. You should look after him carefully. You’ve got to take care of all the pacers and look after their workloads,’ said Alamgir.

You got to agree with Alamgir. You won’t find someone like Nahid often. You won’t see pace like Nahid in Bangladesh cricket often. And you know that pace is pace, yaar.