In the second ODI against Ireland on Monday (March 20, 2023), Mushfiqur Rahim set a record-breaking milestone for himself while helping Bangladesh earn their record total run in ODI. Mushfiq scored a hundred from 60 balls, making him the owner of the fastest century ODI by a Bangladeshi batter.

Mushfiq Broke Shakib's 63-Ball Fastest Century Record

After having a great performance in the first ODI, Mushfiq continued this in the second match too. Mushfiqur achieved the remarkable feat of 7000 runs in ODI in the second game of the three-match ODI series against Ireland. He took the 9th century of his ODI career from 60 balls with one run in the last ball of Bangladesh's innings. Earlier in this edition, Mushfiqur's last century was against Sri Lanka in Mirpur in May 2021.

Mushfiqur started the second ODI with 6945 runs in 228 innings in 243 matches. He just needed 55 runs to reach the 7000 runs milestone. While he was on 52 off 34 balls, Mushfiqur hit 7,000 runs after hitting Curtis Kampfer on his knees for a four over mid-off. With that four, he met this milestone in the 229th inning in 244 matches.

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On his way to a half-century from 33 balls, Mushfiqur scored 32 runs on the boundary, and he hit 5 fours and 2 sixes. However, Mushfiqur had previously scored fifty from 32 balls against Pakistan in the 2014 Asia Cup, which was the highest strike rate in his ODI career.

In the first match of the series, Mr. Dependable scored 44 runs from just 26 balls. So, it was understandable that he would do something like that in the second match too. And we saw his aggressive batting when he scored his second fifty. Later he became more violent and picked up the remaining 49 runs off 27 balls. And 10 of these were boundaries! That is after picking up the fifty, 40 of the remaining 49 runs on the way to the century were fours.

Mushfiqur's 100-run innings from 60 balls have become the fastest century in Bangladesh's ODI history. Earlier, the fastest century record was held by Shakib Al Hasan for 14 years. Shakib scored a century from 63-ball against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2009. Additionally, the last match’s innings are also Mushfiqur's highest strike rate in his ODI career. His strike rate of 166.66 is the highest that day in terms of innings, with a minimum of fifty.

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Mushfique’s whole innings were entertaining, and the moment of the record-making century was dramatic too. Mushfiqu needed 9 runs from 4 balls to score a hundred. He took two runs from the flick, which was followed by a brilliant reverse scoop to the third man for a boundary.

In the fifth delivery of the 50th over, he took two runs, putting himself one step ahead to the hundred. And finally flicked the last ball and pushed it to the mid-wicket to reach the record. All of his previous 8 centuries in his ODI career were at the number 4 batting order. He made history in his first century at number 6.

He is being tested for a new role at number 6 in this series. After 6 and a half years and 75 innings in ODIs, he came down to bat at number 6 in the first match of this series. And the result was brilliant.

Read more: Tigers post another record ODI total as Mushfiqur smashes fastest ton

Final Words

As Mushfiqur's own career has reached a new level with this hundred, his batting in these two matches is also great news for the team. Mr. Dependable already proved that he could handle batting at four or five well; he also showed his usefulness for number six. The World Cup is not far away, and Mushfiqur’s form is great news for Bangladesh cricket. With Pool, cut, sweep, flick, glance, great drive, scoop, and reverse scoop together, Mushfiqur Rahim showed the masterclass of ODI batting.