Taskin Ahmed has recently become the highest-paid national cricketer in the country, as the BCB named him as the only player in the highest grade of A-plus in the latest list of national contracted players, which was released on Monday.
According to the contract, Taskin would receive Tk 10 lakh each month, plus match fees and other bonuses.
Even the national captain, Najmul Hossain Shanto, will receive less than Taskin鈥攖he country鈥檚 premier fast bowler鈥攂ecause he is in Grade A.
Of course, Taskin鈥檚 new contract will not make him the highest-paid international cricketer in compared to some of the other big nation cricketers.
But it鈥檚 certainly a testament to the recognition of Taskin鈥檚 consistency in the green and red colour in recent years.
Since Taskin took 5-28 in an ODI against India in 2014 at Mirpur, only in his second international match, the tall and once chubby-looking fast bowler was always thought to be the next big thing in Bangladesh鈥檚 pace bowling unit.
But that wasn鈥檛 the case, as Taskin often lacked consistency and found it hard to battle with injuries.
Soon, Taskin was out of the national team, and that hiatus continued to prolong.
A fresh batch of injuries forced the return of the pacer to delay, and he lost his place in the Bangladesh squad in the 2019 World Cup.
Taskin was visibly in tears when he was talking to the media after it had been confirmed that he hadn鈥檛 made the cut to the World Cup.
And then came the Covid-19 outbreak across the world when everything seemed to be halted. Taskin took the long and unwanted break to work on his fitness.
Soon he was able to reap the reward of his hard work.
A new look Taskin made his comeback in 2021 in an ODI against the West Indies in Chattogram. It was Taskin 2.0 who never looked back since then.
With Mashrafe Bin Mortaza gone, Taskin soon took the baton of the leader of the pace bowling unit, which continued to enlarge and grow with the rise of other pacers.
Until 2018, when Taskin played his last match in his first phase of the career, the right-arm pacer took 64 wickets in 58 innings at an average of 39.39 across the format.
Since his return to the national team, Taskin has taken 178 wickets in 122 innings at an average of just 26.11.
Taskin maintained his pace with a greater accuracy of line and length and has become an all-format bowler.
He even got the call from multiple IPL franchises as replacements, though he couldn鈥檛 feature due to his national commitments.
But he continued to rise. Since the start of 2024, no bowler has taken more wickets than Taskin for Bangladesh across the formats.
The Bangladesh National Team has been under scrutiny due to their continuous failures in major tournaments despite having an exciting bowling unit, which has been spearheaded by Taskin.
If Bangladesh are to change things, soon-to-be 30-year-old Taskin will certainly have a role to play in the coming days.
Taskin has gotten the recognition he deserves; now, probably, it鈥檚 time to deliver more.