Visiting India declared their first innings of the rain haunted Test in Fatullah at their overnight score of 462 for six and all eyes were on Tamim Iqbal as Bangladesh began their first innings on the fourth day.
Tamim needed just six runs to equal his former skipper Habibul Bashar’s 3026 runs, highest for Bangladesh. Though he made just 19 on the day, it was enough to see him wear the crown of Bangladesh’s highest Test run getter.
After yesterday the 26-year old has 3039 runs from 76 innings at an average of 39.73. One can argue that Tamim took a long time reaching the feat, but the batsman thinks otherwise.
“It is true that it took around eight years for me to reach the record but in these seven or eight years I have played just 40 Tests and I achieved the feat 10 Tests before him (Bashar). If I could have reached the mark a few Tests earlier, it definitely would have been better. And those who are close to this record, had they achieved this before I did it would have been a good thing for all of us,” said Tamim during the post-day press conference at KSOAS yesterday.
Apart from Tamim, Mominul Haque was also among the contenders of reaching a landmark of his own. The No 3 batsman needed to do what he had been doing in his last 11 Tests – score at least one half century.
With only a day left (today) in the match, it is highly unlikely that Bangladesh will bat again (their second innings) and thus Mominul, who made 30 and disappeared to a foolish charge to Harbhajan Singh, remains away from the record of becoming the second cricketer in the history after South Africa’s AB de Villiers of scoring 12 consecutive Test fifties.
“I don’t know if he (Mominul) is (disappointed) because from what I know he doesn’t care about records. But personally I was really disappointed because I wanted him to get the fifty and complete the record. But unfortunately, this was the Test that he had to face for the record where around 120 overs were bowled in four days. So it would have been good if someone from Bangladesh could have entered the record books,” said Tamim.
Tamim believes Mominul has the ability to bag the most runs for Bangladesh in Tests. “I don’t think the record will stay for a long time. If you see Mominul’s average he should overtake this score 5-6 matches before me. And the way he is playing I think he and other young players can do this. Maybe I have overcome Bashar bhai’s record 10 matches before him, others may do it 5-6 or 7 matches before me.”