From his debut at Lord’s to the double-hundred in Galle, and other match-winning knocks in between
Interview by Mohammad Isam26-May-2020Fifteen years since he made his debut as a teenager at Lord’s, Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh’s leading run scorer in Tests, and has come to be regarded as one of the leading all-format wicketkeeper-batsmen in the world. In this interview, he lists seven innings, across formats, that have defined his career.His Test debut, against England, Lord’s, 2005
I was taken by surprise when, during an Under-19 tour of Australia [in 2005], I was told I had got a call-up to the Bangladesh Test team. I came back early to join the senior team, and it was all like a dream. I was going to play alongside people I had seen on TV or from afar when I used to do age-group camps at BKSP [Bangladesh’s national sports institute]. I was under the impression that I would be playing a couple of the practice games to give Pilot bhai [Khaled Mashud] some rest and that he would play both Tests in England. I made a fifty against Sussex and an unbeaten 115 against Northamptonshire. I had some idea about the conditions there as I had toured England the previous year under coach Richard McInnes.I got a little nervous with the prospect of playing against the likes of Steve Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Andrew Flintoff. I doubted whether I was capable to play against them, but I got a lot of encouragement from coaches, senior players and family members. My father said that whether I am playing at Altafunnessa, a small ground in my home town of Bogura, or at Lord’s, the pitch is going to remain 22 yards.I didn’t see many fielders in front of me during that innings. Other than Graham Thorpe at silly mid-off, and maybe Michael Vaughan at wide extra cover, everyone was behind me. There were slips, a leg slip and a gully. I heard them telling me, “There’s no one to help you here.”I actually enjoyed my debut. If you look at my innings, I remember I was one of only three batsmen to reach double figures. I didn’t make a lot of runs [19 and 3], but batting for so long against such a quality attack gave me some satisfaction and the realisation that to play at this level, I need to work really hard to prepare myself.The first of Mushfiqur Rahim’s three Test double-hundreds came in 2013 in Galle, where he also partnered Mohammad Ashraful in a 267-run stand•Associated PressAgainst India in the 2007 World Cup, Port-of-Spain
There was a lot of pressure on me [before this innings]. Replacing Pilot
It is one of my special knocks. I don’t talk about it much because ultimately my team didn’t win, but I learned a lot about myself during this innings. It was getting dark in the latter half of the innings, but there were no floodlights. I told the umpire that it was difficult to sight the ball, but the moment I hit a couple of boundaries, I think it was Kumar [Dharmasena] who said, “You are hitting fours and sixes. What do you mean you can’t see the ball?”There weren’t a lot of partnerships in that chase. I think Nasir [Hossain] got out at a crucial moment, which was a setback. But it was great that I could dig in and almost take the team home. I also learned how to farm the strike with tailenders.Mushfiqur Rahim kicked off his captaincy with a memorable three-wicket T20I win over West Indies in which he made an unbeaten 26-ball 41•Associated PressFirst match as Bangladesh captain: v West Indies, Mirpur, 2011
I don’t have a lot of big innings in T20Is, so this is among my best knocks. It was my first match as captain, against an in-form West Indies side. We were at an early stage of the T20 format and needed 27 off the last three overs. I knew we had a chance if I could drag it into the last over. I was the last recognised batsman, so I made sure I faced the most balls. [With two balls remaining], I told Raj
I think it has been my No. 1 innings so far. The build-up to this Test gave me a lot of confidence. I was the highest run getter in the BPL earlier in the season and I took my good form to Sri Lanka, where I started the tour with a half-century in the practice game. We were lucky it wasn’t a typical Galle wicket; it was a batting-friendly wicket. Even Angelo Mathews said how unbelievable it was to have such a surface.It was quite hard to keep wicket for 135 overs and then go out to bat. But I was determined after seeing Kumar Sangakkara’s Test record against Bangladesh. I was carrying the determination with me that it would be my happiest day if I could take an opportunity against Sri Lanka. Ashraful [We will not let go.] We’ll bat as long as possible.Ashraful
I knew you would bring this one up ( [Mahmudullah] or Shuvagata Hom unable to quickly adapt to the situation. If we could have won in that situation, I would have obviously felt great. I will always have this regret.This was a World T20 game, so we missed a big opportunity, and you can’t really compare it with other matches. But beating India last year [in the Delhi T20I], and having played the match-winning innings in it, was quite special for me. The Hyderabad Test century [2017] has its place too. We were playing our first Test in India and they had five top bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. It gave me immense confidence.159 v New Zealand, Wellington, 2016-17
Rahim and Shakib added a record 359-run stand to take Bangladesh to 595 for 8 declared at the Basin Reserve. Rahim injured his right hand during the innings and then received a blow to his head when he came out to bat in the second innings.
This is my second-best innings. I had torn my hamstring during the first ODI of the tour, so I had to do rehab for two and a half weeks. It’s tough sitting out when everyone else on the tour is playing, especially abroad. I had to sit through a couple of matches which I felt could have won had I been playing. We never win in New Zealand, so getting close and sitting out was really disappointing.Coming to Wellington, it had one of the toughest conditions – wicket, wind and bowling attack. The way Tamim and Mominul [Haque] handled their bowling gave me a lot of a confidence. I knew I could achieve something if I applied myself like they had. Shakib made a double-hundred and joined me for a big partnership.In the second innings, I had an injured finger, so they knew where to bowl to me. Neil Wagner was bowling short all the time, but that is also his natural bowling style. Imrul Kayes kept wicket in my place for a long time in the New Zealand innings and then got injured himself. I tried to play for as long as possible, but when I got hit in the head, I couldn’t continue. In a game that had so many individual achievements, I felt bad that we couldn’t produce a win.
