BAN vs SL: Mushfiqur Rahim becomes first Bangladesh batter to reach 5000 Test runs

Mushfiqur Rahim overtook fellow teammate Tamim Iqbal in the race to become Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer in Test cricket. He became the first batter in Bangladesh’s history to have scored 5000 runs in Tests. Tamim, who was just 19 short of the milestone himself, retired out on 133 against Sri Lanka in the first Test. He did get another chance when he returned to bat but was clean bowled by Kasun Rajitha without adding to his tally of 133 in the game.

Mushfiqur took 149 innings to reach the landmark. The wicketkeeper-batter made his Test debut against England at Lord’s in 2005. The right-hander is arguably the most celebrated Bangladeshi player after Shakib Al Hasan. He was included in the ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year for 2021. Mushfiqur has had a glittering career and is the only Bangladeshi player to win 150 international matches. His 219* against Zimbabwe in 2018 is the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi batter in Test cricket.

In February 2020, during one-off the Test against Zimbabwe, Mushfiqur scored an unbeaten 203 runs, becoming the first and only Bangladeshi batsman to score three double-hundreds in Test cricket. Although he has passed on the wicketkeeping role to his teammate Litton Das, Mushfiqur was quite impressive behind the stumps, quick with the gloves and even quicker with his words as he was constantly in the batter’s ears.

In March 2017, during the second Test against Sri Lanka, he registered his 100th dismissal as a wicketkeeper. He became the first wicketkeeper for Bangladesh to reach this milestone. Mushfiqur captained the national side from 2011 to 2017 and during that time Bangladesh made significant progress in the ODI format as he led them to the Quaterfinals in the 2015 World Cup. Rahim came under criticism from all corners after a whitewash on the South Africa tour and was subsequently removed as captain.

Meanwhile, the elegant right-hander is one of the mainstays of the middle order and is looking at his best after a poor run of form in the last few months.