Dhaka – Right-hand batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has become the first wicketkeeper to score two double centuries in Test cricket making unbeaten 219 runs against touring Zimbabwe in the first innings of the 2nd Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.With this, he also broke the record of Bangladesh’s highest individual score in Test leapfrogging Shakib Al Hasan’s 217.Mushfiq, who hit his first double century making 200 runs against Sri Lanka in a Test that ended in draw at Galle International Stadium in March 2013, completed his 2nd double ton taking a single, pulling a short ball to square leg, off a Sikandar Raza delivery on the second day of the ongoing Test.
He scored an entertaining innings of unbeaten 219, the highest individual total by any Bangladeshi batsman in Test, playing 421 balls featuring 18 fours and one six which also guided his team to a comfortable total of 522 for 7 in 160 overs.
With 3962 runs in his bag in Tests, Mushfiq is just 87 runs away from overtaking Tamim Iqbal to become Bangladesh’s leading run-getter.
Before Mushfiq, seven other wicketkeepers had scored double hundreds in Tests and Rahim’s unbeaten 219 is also the fourth-highest among those.
Andy Flower’s 232 not out against India in 2000 remains the highest. The previous highest score by a keeper against Zimbabwe was 128 by Kumar Sangakkara at Colombo in 2001. Mushfiqur’s own previous double century also came against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2013.
With the day’s feat, Mushfiq also went past his fellow teammate Shakib Al Hasan’s 217 made against New Zealand in January 2017. He is the sixth cricketer after Sir Don Bradman, George Headley, Vinoo Mankad, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag to break his country’s individual Test score record making 200 or more runs.
Mushfiq’s 219 not out is the highest score this year, 23 runs better than Kusal Mendis’ 196 against Bangladesh at Chattagram. Five of the top six individual scores this year have come in Bangladesh.
His 589-minute batting is the longest by a Bangladesh batsman in Test cricket. The previous record was set 18 years ago, in Bangladesh’s maiden Test, when Aminul Islam batted for 535 minutes against India, scoring 145 runs.
A 160-over innings, studded with Mushfiq’s superb batting, is the Bangladesh’s longest innings at home and their 522 runs innings is their third-highest score in Tests.UNB
