Don't jump off the Nahid Rana hype train just yet

Nahid Rana took 0 for 97 in the only innings he bowled in Galle, has 0 for 54 at the end of day two at the SSC, but if you're thinking of jumping off the Rana hype train over his Sri Lanka performances, hold up, stay close, this isn't your stop. Those figures don't necessarily correlate with his potential. There are things to consider here.

Up first on the list of things to consider is the raw pace. Rana is almost certainly the fastest bowler Bangladesh has ever produced. He is not just fast in brief, fresh bursts; he can be fast late on difficult days too. Deep into session three on day two at the SSC, he was still breaching 145kph, still bowling bouncers, still rushing batters, even the supremely well-set. He has also been known to bowl faster than 150kph. Forget Bangladesh, for most of Test cricket's history, it would not have had a bowler who could consistently bowl that quickly. Even now, around the world, there may only be a handful that fast.

There are other virtues. Those bouncers, partly because of the pace, but also because it is one of his more accurate deliveries, can often be truly vicious. Pathum Nissanka, very arguably the batter of this series so far, found this out on 94 when he tried to hook Rana, and discovered the ball was on him already at 149kph - incredibly fast for a bouncer. It smacked his helmet hard by the badge, looped so high in the air that Rana could race forward in his follow-through and spring forward to intercept it centimetres above the grass. He appealed for that catch, but on replay, it was clear there was no way the bat could have touched it. The ball was too fast - already in Nissanka's face by the time he pulled his bat through.

Bowling short was a big part of Rana's day. When he bowled bouncers, he generally forced the batters to duck, or he hit them. There was a short leg in place, plus a catching fine leg, and catchers out to the off side, so balls that skewed off the shoulder or handle of the bat could be gobbled up. In first-class cricket, he had frequently blasted batting orders out this way, averaging 19.81 across 19 innings for Rajshahi Division.

The easy critique to make here is that Test batters are not first-class batters, and that you need more than raw pace to get Test batters out, but this is not necessarily the case. Test batters frequently get out to sheer pace and bounce, but this SSC pitch - slow off the deck and with modest bounce and carry - is almost exactly wrong for Rana, so he can only make so much of his height and pace.

One theory about Rana's present state is that he is most effective as a third seamer, not as a new-ball bowler. There is evidence to back this up. In his first outstanding Test performance, Rana was the second-change bowler, and took 4 for 44 to seal a historic series win in Pakistan. Three months later - in Kingston - his only five-for came when he was first change. Four of those wickets were with the old ball.

On day two at the SSC, he was frequently bowling cross-seam short balls, which is a deeply third-seamer move. Swing bowlers tend to like preserving that shiny side of the ball, for conventional swing first, and reverse swing later. Even spinners like one side of the ball to be in smooth condition, because they can get more drift that way. It is the fast bowlers who revel in the shorter lengths and exploit the chaos, the uneven bounce created by cross-seam deliveries.

Nahid beat plenty of cross-batted shots with cross-seam deliveries on day two, but they never took an edge. Both Nissanka and Dinesh Chandimal looked most uncomfortable against Rana's bowling late in the day, but he had been wayward in his two new-ball overs, conceding 20. "Rana didn't bowl well with the new ball initially, but found his rhythm again and looked good towards the end" is what coach Phil Simmons said.

He is 22, and still developing skills, having had no serious cricket coaching till being discovered late in his teens. But pace is pace and height is height, and as long as you stay fit, those things can get you pretty far in a fast-bowling life. On a pitch better suited, on a day with more luck, Rana could have bowled exactly as he did on day two and finished with several wickets.