Veteran Mushfiqur Rahim seized the opportunity of Tamim Iqbal’s injury, which forced him to retire hurt after tea on day 3 of the first Test against Sri Lanka. Mushfiqur eventually reached the 5,000 Test runs milestone in the first session of day 4 and became the first Bangladeshi to do so. When Tamim returned to bat after lunch on day 4, he was only 19 runs away from reaching the landmark. However, He couldn’t add any more runs to his tally and was eventually dismissed by pacer Kasun Rajitha. Let’s take a look at Mushfiqur’s Test career and the players who were the first in their respective countries to achieve the 5,000-run milestone in the longer-version format.
Notable Achievements of Mushfiqur Rahim’s Test Career
When Mushfiqur Rahim made his debut against England back in 2005, he was only 18 years old. The diminutive wicket-keeper batter was regarded highly by the selectors back then. The inclusion of Mushfiqur put pressure on regular keeper Khaled Mashud Pailot, who eventually lost his place in the Test team in two years’ time. Mushfiqur became the No. 1 Test keeper in 2007 and has gradually emerged as one of the country’s best batters.
Bangladesh’s success in the longer-version format hasn’t been impressive. They have only won 16 in 130 matches. Therefore, not many match-winning knocks have been seen from the Bangladesh batters. However, Mushfiqur’s efforts with the bat have been notable in the rare occasions in which Bangladesh have been able to outperform its opponents.
Mushfiqur was only 68 runs away from achieving the milestone prior to the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka first Test at Chattogram. He reached the milestone in Bangladesh’s first innings, when he scored 105 runs with the bat. Along with becoming the first Bangladesh batter to achieve 5,000 Test runs, Mushfiqur Rahim has numerous records in the longer-version format.
Here are some of Mushfiqur Rahim’s most notable Test records
1) Mushfiqur has kept wicket 28 times while being captain, just behind India’s MS Dhoni (60).
2) He has the fourth highest individual Test innings (219*) among the wicket-keeper batters.
3) He is the only player who has two double hundreds as a wicket-keeper batter.
4) He is the only Bangladesh player who has three double hundreds.
5) He is the first Bangladesh player to score double hundreds
6) Mushfiqur Rahim has the highest individual Test innings (219) for Bangladesh.
Each Team’s First Batter to Complete 5000 Test Runs
Since the inaugural match between Australia and England in Melbourne in 1877, nearly 2,500 Tests have been played. Since then, the sport has seen many greats. Many milestones and records have been achieved, which fans will always remember.
Before Mushfiqur Rahim became the 99th player to surpass the 5,000-run milestone in Tests, 98 batsmen had done it. Tamim Iqbal, who is now the 100th most run scorer in Tests, has a chance to become the 100th player to score 5K runs in his next innings.
Sachin Tendulkar of India leads the most Test run scorers chart with 15,921 runs, followed by Ricky Ponting of Australia with 13,378 runs and Jack Kallis of South Africa with 13,289 runs. However, in the longer version of cricket, who is the first batter from each team to achieve 5,000 runs? Let’s have a look at who they are and when they reached the milestone.
Aftermath
Who better to become the first Bangladeshi player to reach 5,000 Test runs than Mushfiqur Rahim? He is widely known as “Mr. Dependable” and, without a doubt, one of Bangladesh’s most complete batters ever.
With this remarkable achievement, Mushfiqur enters the company of legends such as Jack Hobbs, Don Bradman, Gary Sobers, and Sunil Gavaskar. Rahim can play for the national team for a few more years if he remains fit and focuses on playing longer-version cricket. The right-handed batter will almost certainly have more chances to reach a few more milestones before the end of his career.
Source: United News of Bangladesh