Tamim Iqbal becomes 1st Bangladesh batsman to reach 10,000 international runs

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal on Saturday became the 1st Bangladesh batsman to register more than 10,000 runs in international cricket during the opening ODI against Sri Lanka at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla. He also completed a scintillating century which has put the visitors in a comfortable position in the 1st ODI. The southpaw took 267 matches and 311 innings to reach the feat.

With an average of 33.28 across all 3 formats of the game, Tamim Iqbal remains one of the most important members of the Bangladesh squad in all 3 formats of the game. While he has scored 3,677 runs in Test cricket, his returns in ODI and T20I’s are 5120 and 1202 runs respectively. He is one of the most accomplished batsmen in the Bangladesh side and with 16 centuries in international cricket, he is only one among the 12 players who have scored a century in all 3 formats of the game.

Making his debut way back in 2007 against Zimbabwe at Harare, Tamim has matured as a batsman and has gone on to become the greatest opener Bangladesh has produced. He was a part of the 2007 World Cup squad which defeated India in the group match to force them out of the quadrennial tournament. Ever since making his debut Tamim has represented Bangladesh in 49 Tests, 162 ODI’s and 55 T20I’s.

After drawing the 2 match Test series against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh is looking forward to winning the ODI series which will be a big boost for the Tigers. He led Bangladesh to a sensational victory in the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka and remained unbeaten on 89 in the 2nd innings which helped the hosts in overcoming the Sri Lankan challenge and come out victorious in their 100th Test.

After 45 overs Bangladesh was comfortably placed on 256/3 with Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal out there at the crease. Given the situation of the game, it won’t be a surprise if the visitors go on to post anything above 300. At the time when the post was written, Shakib was batting on 66 of 69 deliveries while Tamim was unbeaten on 107 of 132 deliveries.