Fifteen years since he made his debut as a teenager at Lord's, Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh 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, lords 2005
Rahim played his first Test at the age of 17 during a difficult period for Bangladesh cricket. Performers were so hard to come by that they drafted in a teenager who had been picked as a back-up keeper.
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 madea fifty against Sussex and an unbeaten 115. 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. Against India in the 2007 World Cup, port-of-spain
The selectors picked Rahim in the World Cup squad over the highly experienced Mashud, who was also a fan favourite. In Bangladesh's opening game, Mushfiqur made a match-winning unbeaten 56 and ended all talk about Mashud's omission.
There was a lot of pressure on me [before this innings]. Replacing Pilot bhai, someone who has served the Bangladesh team for a long time, was a big challenge. I thought I could get a chance if someone got injured, but I never expected to be the first choice. Until a dinner party attended by all the teams, where I saw greats like Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar, I hadn't quite grasped what a World Cup was like.
During the innings break against India, I learned I was going bat at No. 3. I had very little time to think about it. It was India's first match and they thought they would get some batting practice before their big games. It was a tacky wicket. Tamim [Iqbal] gave us a good start while I was settling in. Then I had a great partnership with Shakib [Al Hasan]. It made me quite relaxed to bat with two of my U-19 team-mates on the biggest stage.
When I hit the winning runs, I couldn't believe what was happening. I must thank [Mohammad] Ashraful bhai for giving me the chance to hit the winning runs. He could have done it against Zaheer Khan in the previous over. It took a while to sink in, but when we started to receive all the congratulatory messages, I understood we had done something big for the country.
101 v Zimbabwe, harare, 2011
Bangladesh were 0-2 down going into the third ODI. Rahim had established himself as a middle-order batsman after the World Cup that year, and with very little support, he took his team as deep as possible in the 251-run chase.
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.
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