After being winless for 10 matches in a row, Bangladesh's national cricket team has finally regained its winning trend in international cricket. The host defeated the Lankans by 33 runs in the first of three matches ODI series. Bangladesh will clinch a bilateral ODI series against Sri Lanka for the first time if they win another match in this contest. In addition to the team's success, Bangladesh enjoyed some personal achievements during the match. Three of Bangladesh's top cricketers; Tamim, Shakib, and Mustafizur reached unique milestones in the first ODI against Sri Lanka. This article discusses the achievements of the three cricketers.
The achievements of Tamim, Shakib, and Mustafizur in the first ODI
Bangladesh's ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, and the world's best all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan achieved personal milestones. While Mustafizur Rahman set a new world record in the series-opening match. Let's take a closer look at those accomplishments.
The milestone that Tamim Iqbal achieved
Bangladesh's ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal needed only two runs to become the first Bangladeshi player to amass 14,000 runs in international cricket before the opening match in the Sri Lanka series. The veteran opener Tamim Iqbal achieved this personal milestone by scoring 52 runs in the first One-Day International against Sri Lanka.
Tamim Iqbal has a total of 14,050 runs in 413 innings in 356 matches. Tamim has 23 hundred and 89 half-centuries in international cricket. He hit his career-best of 206 runs in a Test match against Pakistan in Khulna in 2015. Tamim still needs seven more runs to reach the 14,000-run mark for Bangladesh.
Tamim Iqbal is expected to reach the milestone in the second match of the ongoing bilateral series. Apart from Tamim, the other two Bangladeshi cricketers with over 10,000 international runs are Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan. Tamim is only the tenth opening batsman in international cricket history to achieve 14,000 runs.
Read: Five reasons behind Bangladesh's win over Sri Lanka in the first ODI
The milestone that Shakib Al Hasan reached
Prior to the series opener against Sri Lanka, Shakib Al Hasan was on the verge of reaching a milestone, having taken 999 wickets in 667 competitive matches. He would have completed 1,000 wickets if he gets just one wicket. He had reached this personal milestone by taking 1 wicket for 44 runs in 10 overs.
Sri Lankan middle-order batsman Kusal Mendis was his 1000th wicket victim. Shakib has taken 569 wickets in international cricket (210 Test wickets, 267 ODI wickets, and 92 T20 wickets), as well as 431 wickets in first-class cricket, List A, and T20 format.
Shakib is expected to shatter two more records in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. If Shakib gets only two more wickets, he will be the highest ODI wicket-taker for Bangladesh jointly with Mashrafe (269). Furthermore, if he scores 52 runs in the series, the world's best all-rounder will become the third Bangladeshi to achieve 12,000 international runs.
Read: What Bangladesh's World Cup 2023 squad would look like?
The world record set by Mustafizur Rahman
The cutter-master Mustafizur Rahman achieved a fantastic milestone in the series opener against Sri Lanka. Mustafizur claimed three wickets for 34 runs in the contest. As a result, Mustafizur Rahman captured 51 wickets in 26 One-Day Internationals in Bangladesh, averaging only 15.11.
Mustafizur Rahman has the best average among bowlers who have taken at least 50 wickets at home. Two Australian cricketers, CJ Mckay (18.63) and Dennis Lilee (18.72) are ranked second and third respectively on the list.
He appeared in 65 One-Day Internationals and collected 121 wickets at an average of 22.97. Mustafiz's best ODI bowling figures (6/43) came against India at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in a bilateral series in 2015.
Bottom Line
Tamim, Shakib, and Mustafizur reached unique milestones in the first ODI against Sri Lanka and made Bangladesh proud again in world cricket. Bangladesh players would be able to achieve a number of personal milestones if they perform well in the next two matches of the series.
However, the main goal should be to ensure a 3-0 series victory. Because if Sri Lanka is whitewashed, Bangladesh will rise to the top of the ICC ODI World Cup Super League points table, which will be a far more significant achievement.
Read: Why SL series is important for Bangladesh's 2023 World Cup Berth?