Tamim Iqbal may not have been at his marauding best in the second one-day international against New Zealand on Thursday, but his 86-ball 58 was enough for him to become the leading scorer of Bangladesh in this format of cricket. The opener eclipsed close pal Sakib al Hasan to achieve the feat as Bangladesh compiled a modest 247 before they were all out at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The innings took his tally to 3702 in 124 matches, 14 ahead of Sakib, who has played five matches more but batted in equal number of innings.
Tamim required 44 runs to equal the feat of the ailing Sakib, who is missing the series due to dengue fever.
The southpaw also overtook Sakib in terms of number of balls faced as he has now faced 4723 balls, six deliveries more than Sakib, arguably the finest ever cricketer produced by Bangladesh.
Competition between Sakib and Tamim, once the captain and vice-captain of the side, is so intense that they are considered equal in many cases.
Both of them have scored 25 half-centuries, though Sakib has one more hundred than Tamim’s four.
Tamim had his chance of equalling Sakib’s tally of tons but he wasted it after missing the line of delivery and getting clean bowled off Corey Anderson.
It was, however, not the best innings that the left-hander has played since he made his one-day international debut against Zimbabwe in 2007.
Tamim’s aggressive batting was instrumental behind Bangladesh’s many successes over the years and he had another opportunity of making a name for himself on Thursday.
His first match dismissal for five to a swinging
delivery of Tim Southee might have played over his mind as he was unusually sedate throughout his innings.
Tamim took as many as 75 balls to complete his fifty, not too bad a strike rate in one-day cricket, but poor by Tamim’s own high standards.
Naeem Islam also played the same number of balls for his fifty in the first match, but Tamim’s one was deemed conspicuous as the opener is generally known for his swashbuckling approach.
Shamsur Rahman, his new opening partner in one-day cricket, was going extremely slow on the other end putting immense pressure on the run-rate, still Tamim did not lost his composure for one split second.
The arrival of free-and-fluent Mominul Haque also failed to raise the tempo of his innings.
Shamsur (25) and Mominul (31) were dismissed just when the partnerships were developing
and Tamim himself gave away his wicket before Mushfiqur Rahim settled in.
As a result, Bangladesh had to remain satisfied with just one fifty-run stand in the match, with four other stands ending at 40s.
SCORECARD
Bangladesh innings
Tamim b Anderson 58
Shamsur st Latham b
N McCullum 25
Mominul c N McCullum b Anderson 31
Mushfiq c Latham b Neesham 31
Naeem c Latham b Mills 16
Nasir c B McCullum b Neesham 3
Mahmudullah c&b Anderson 21
Sohag c Devcich b Anderson 26
Mashrafee b Neesham 14
Razzak not out 4
Rubel b Neesham 2
Extras (b5,lb5, wb4, nb2) 16
Total (all out, 49 overs) 247
Fall of wicket: 1-63 (Shamsur), 2-110 (Mominul), 3-136 (Tamim) 4-169 (Mushfiq), 5-171 (Naeem), 6-173 (Nasir), 7-221 (Mahmudullah) 8-240 (Mashrafe) 9-240 (Sohag), 10-247(Rubel).
Bowling
Southee 10 2 45 0
Mills 10 1 47 1
N McCullum 8 0 42 1
Neesham 10 0 53 4
Anderson 9 1 40 4
Eliot 2 0 10 0
Toss: Bangladesh
-With New Age input
