Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam aims to bag anywhere between 500 to 600 international wickets by the end of his career.
The 31-year old spinner revealed his ambition on the back of his 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
Taijul's effort helped hosts Bangladesh restrict visitors Ireland for 214 in 77.2 overs in the third session of day one of the one-off Test match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium Tuesday.
He topped the Bangladesh bowling attack in the innings as he conceded just 58 runs in 28 overs, including 10 maidens, for his fifer.
Right-arm fast bowler Ebadot Hossain and off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz picked two scalps apiece.
“I feel and aim to get 500 to 600 [international] wickets by the end. I still have some years more to play I believe,” said Taijul to the media after stumps on the first day in Mirpur.
“Of course you feel good when you as a spinner take five wickets in the first innings of the game. And the way the wicket is, it is difficult [for spinners] to take five wickets to be honest,” added the Bangladesh bowler, who now has 203 wickets across the three formats.
While the spinners dominated the opponents, Bangladesh Test captain Shakib al Hasan refrained from bringing himself to the attack.
Left-arm spinner Shakib first bowled in the innings after the 65th over.
Taijul by then had bowled 22 overs and bagged three wickets while Miraz had sent down 14 overs.
Taijul informed that Shakib did not want to break the flow as things were going well.
“There was no particular reason, it might have been that he wanted us to bowl. He might have come to attack if we had struggled,” said Taijul.
“As captain, he will always want the best for the team and suggest if someone makes any mistake. He reads the match situation very well and gives suggestions whenever needed. He had confidence on us [me and Miraz].”
Bangladesh after day one trailed by 180 runs with eight wickets in hand.
In the 10 overs of the final hour, Bangladesh first lost opener Nazmul Hossain Shanto for a duck in the fifth ball of the first over.
And losing Tamim Iqbal [21] on the last ball of the day has put the home team on the backfoot.
“Yes, we are a bit on the backfoot after the wicket [of Tamim] fell. But we can always recover from this, that will be important when we go out to bat in the morning [Wednesday]. We will need a big partnership if we want to take a big lead,” Taijul explained.