'The fizz' has fizzled out
In the Twenty20 International series against hosts India, Mustafiz has looked a shadow of his former self, bereft of ideas, and hapless at times.
When Mustafizur Rahman burst onto the scene in 2015, he was a magical bowler that could do things with the ball that no one else could.
His cutters could deceive even the best of batsmen, as was the case against India in the one-day series, where he was adjudged man-of-the-series.
A superb beginning
Now the Indian batsmen are no mugs, so it made what he had been doing all the more astonishing.
In the age of modern technology and a plethora of cameras tracking your every move in international cricket, his cutters and variations should have been found out and batsmen should have been able to read him.
Initially, it seemed like that would not be the case, as he was successful against South Africa, England and New Zealand later on and his form continued through to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
A menace in limited overs cricket, things looked set to reach great heights in red ball cricket too, as a county deal with Sussex was locked.
An untimely injury
But this is where things changed for the left-arm quick.
Injury would strike him and with that, a change of action, and a reduction in pace.
All of these factors contributed to him being effective, but not as menacing as he used to be.
Couple that with more and more batsmen getting used to his variations and you had a recipe for disaster.
The IPL deal is not there anymore with the 'fizz' fading and things are starting to look worrisome for him and for Bangladesh cricket.
The last performance
In the Twenty20 International series against hosts India, Mustafiz has looked a shadow of his former self, bereft of ideas, and hapless at times.
It was especially the case in the second match at Rajkot, where Mustafiz was made to open the bowling.
He got tonked to all parts of the ground by Rohit Sharma, who was in imperious form.
It forced captain Mahmudullah to bowl him for just one over in the first spell, but when he returned, things did not improve for him
Eventually, Mustafiz created a few chances as the Indian batsmen played a few mistimed and uppish shots, but luck didn't favour him and he ended up leaking 35 runs in his four overs without taking a wicket.
The numbers don't lie
The numbers also back up the struggles of Mustafiz in recent times.
He had an average of 13.63 and 14.45 in the year 2015 and 2016 respectively, in all three formats of the game.
But from there, his average jumped up to 32.4 in 2017, a better 23.61 in 2018 and so far, an ordinary 30.92 in 2019.
Let's dive deeper into the stats by taking into account his economy.
In 2015, it was a respectable 4.17 while it increased to 5.64 in 2016, but got back to 4.15 in the latter year.
In 2018, the economy was also decent at 4.64 but so far this year, in all formats, it has been a poor 6.85.
Overall, it is clear that 2019 has been Mustafiz's worst year if the numbers are taken into account.
Which leaves fast bowling coach Charl Langaveldt with a mountain of a task – bring the fizz back.
With Bangladesh missing the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan in the ongoing tour, the Tigers look at Mustafiz to deliver the goods as the leader of the bowling attack.
The series is currently tied 1-1, but a lot of hope will wrest on how Mustafiz does in the decider.
Then there is the gargantuan job of taking on India in their home soil in two Tests, and if Mustafiz doesn't show a drastic improvement, a whole lot of trouble awaits the visitors.
Mustafiz has shown signs of his former self, especially with the older ball in limited overs cricket this year, but he has been too expensive regardless.
The way things are going, a turnaround for the great beacon of fast-bowling hope in Bangladesh cricket is getting dimmer by the minute.