Mushfiq claims 100 Test dismissals
He becomes 41st wicketkeeper to do the feat
Sports Reporter
Mushfiqur Rahim became the first Bangladeshi wicketkeeper to claim 100 Test dismissals when he showed great anticipation to take two steps to his right to take the catch of Sri Lankas keeper-batman Niroshan Dickwella.
This was by any means the best catch of the wicket-keeper whose ability behind the wicket was questioned repeatedly and thereby he was stripped off from the duty. Only the injury of specialist gloveman Liton Das gave him the opportunity to stand behind the wicket in the Test which is the Bangladeshs 100th Test. Mushfiq has already completed the feat in one-day internationals.
Mushfiqur is now the 41st wicketkeeper in the Test history with dismissal over 100. Behind the wicket, Mushfiqur has 88 catches and 12 stumpings. But he has total of 89 career catches as one of those catches was taken in one of the six matches that he did not play as a wicketkeeper. And this catch came at the just second match of his career when Khaled Mashud Pilot was the main keeper. In the second Test against Sri Lanka at his hometown Bogra in March 2006, he was fielding at deep midwicket when Mahela Jayawardene pulled Mohammad Ashraful straight into Mushfiqurs hands.
Khaled Mashud Pilot ended his career with 87 dismissals. Mushfiqur began the second Test at the P Sara in Colombo on 95 dismissals and added just one dismissal in the first innings when he stumped Kusal Mendis off Mehedi Hasan Miraz on the first day.
In second innings, he however started disappointingly as he missed a tough chance from Dimtuh Karunaratne who went on to score a century afterwards to lead Sri Lankas revival. Karunaratne was on 11 when the catch was spilled. Fast bowler Subhasis Roy banged a short ball around his ribs from around the stumps to which Karunaratne was cramped and looked to nudge it to the leg side. Mushfiqur did the right thing by taking a step to his right and then dished in the dive, but couldnt hold on.Karunaratne added 115 runs afterwards to be out on 126 when he edged one of Shakib Al Hasan to the first slip where Soumya Sarkar took the catch cleanly. It was the Lankan openers fifth Test ton.This was the only mistake Mushfiqur did on the fourth day. However when a flurry of Sri Lankan wickets put Bangladesh in the upper hand, Mushfiqur added four catches to the list and reached the magic number.And it should mentioned no wicketkeeper in Bangladesh apart from Mushfiqur and his predecessor Khaled Mashud Pilot could take their dismissal even in two digit figure in Test.
Mushfiqur has Mustafizur Rahman to thank for the first three after missing Dickwella as the left-arm pacer had Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva all caught behind in a superb seven-over spell.
Mustafizur and Shakib ended the day with three wickets apiece, conceding 52 and 61 runs respectively but Sri Lanka grinded it their way to reach 268 for eight, taking 139 runs lead.
A 30 or more runs in the scoreboard on a fifth day pitch would surely give the hosts a chance to gatecrash Bangladeshs party in their memorable Test.
