“Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty; it is its own reward,” Mahatma Gandhi, the man needs no introduction, once said, underlining the importance of being hard-worker to achieve the goal. Getting award is not the thing, Gandhi said, should come to the mind.

Tamim Iqbal may hear or may not hear the statement. He obviously is not the in the same leg of Gandhi, the man who led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world, employing nonviolent civil disobedience. How Gandhi loved cricket, is not well known but the statement is applicable for the people, all walk of the life.

Tamim is unarguably and comfortably the best batsman ever Bangladesh have produced, if his stats are taken into the consideration. He is probably the best by far distance. Still if the number of award is considered, his achievement looked measly than the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza and even Mushfiqur Rahim. There were enormous examples—his innings was the catalyst of Bangladesh’s victory against some top teams of the world at regular basis, yet the match of the match went to some other players. For an individual, sometimes it is painful.

Obviously, because of being an all-rounder Shakib has the edge always. He has been the most successful Bangladeshi player in terms of getting man of the match awards in all three formats. He has so far 18 awards in ODI, 6 in Test and 3 in T20, in contrast of Tamim’s 11 ODI, 3 Test and 2 T20 man of the match awards. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has not been playing Test cricket for long but he too has 11 man of the match awards in the ODI.

Number of Tamim’s award could have been bigger had someone like Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Taijul Islam not grabbed the limelight with extra ordinary bowling performance of late. For an example, Tamim played some match defining innings in Test series against England and Australia in the last two years in a truly unpredictable Mirpur pitch but the man of the match went to Miraj for his record breaking bowling performance against England and Shakib for his all-round performance against Australia. But one thing was sure: without Tamim’s 104 against England and 71 & 78 against Australia, Bangladesh even couldn’t win those memorable matches.

Tamim appeared to the world stage with a whirlwind knock against India in ICC World Cup 2007. He had got 51, but more importantly, he had got them in 53 balls, crushing all Indian hopes of defending 192.

Everyone expected Bangladesh to be cautious, but Tamim is not everyone. He went down on one knee and thwacked Zaheer Khan to the point fence in the first over. He lofted Zaheer over mid-off. He slashed Munaf Patel, Jayasuriya-style, for six, using extreme bat-speed to make up for Munaf’s lack of pace. And when Zaheer came round the wicket, Tamim stepped out and lofted him into the stands over long-on. Seldom has a single shot been as morale-shattering as that single shot from Tamim. And he was not even 18. Like his uncle Akram Khan, the current cricket operations chief gave Bangladesh Cricket an identity with his majestic 67 not out against Netherlands in the ICC Trophy in 1997, Tamim’s 51 against India is considered as the prelude to the Bangladesh’s cricket renaissance. If Tamim not played the innings like this, Bangladesh certainly wouldn’t win the match. Yet the man of the match award went to Mashrafe Bin Mortaza for his four for 38. And that was the start that Tamim would regularly be denied to be the best of the match.

The latest denial came into the two matches in succession in the tri-nation series. He was unbeaten on 84, leading the side’s comfortable victory over Zimbabwe and hit yet another sublime 84 against Sri Lanka to lay the platform of a big total in a tricky pitch. He blunted the new ball in exquisite way to help the likes of Shakib and Mushfiqur play their stroke. But both times, Shakib won the man of the match award for his all-round performance.

Contributed well in many matches but less man of the match awards! He indeed is the man of flesh and blood, so disappointment should grip him!

“I have decided one thing….I only believe in rewards, not awards,” Tamim said with smile. It might be true or not true but he perhaps doesn’t know or knows his comment is exactly similar to what Mahatma Gandhi wanted a person to do in his life.

And Tamim also proves: If there’s a core belief at the heart of the incentive industry, it is that the trophy value of tangible, non-cash awards is the most effective way to drive performance.