In the first edition of the three-match ODI series today at Harare Sports Club, opener Tamim Iqbal scored 62 runs against Zimbabwe, becoming the first Bangladeshi batter to reach the milestone of 8000 runs.
The Bangladeshi ODI captain, who entered the crease to start the team’s innings with 7943 runs to his credit, needed just 57 runs to complete the feat. He accomplished the feat after hitting a boundary against Sikandar Raza in the 24th over of the innings.
Tamim, on the other hand, is only the 33rd player in ODI cricket to have played at all 8000 clubs. However, he is only the 11th left-handed batter to accomplish this. Aside from that, he ranks ninth overall and sixth among left-handed openers among the 8000 clubs.
Tamim made his debut for Bangladesh in 2007 and went on to play in 37 innings while reaching 1000 clubs. He needed 33 more innings to join the 200-run club. Then, to get from 3000 to 8000 runs, he needed 32, 35, 21, 17, 29 and 23 innings.
He has currently amassed 8005 runs in 226 innings of 228 games. In the process, he scored 14 centuries and 54 half-centuries, with the highest score of 158 coming against Zimbabwe. In 228 games, he was still in the game 11 times. In ODI cricket, he presently averages 36.94.
The first batter from Bangladesh to score 1,000 and 200 runs was Habibul Bashar Sumon. The first person to reach 3000 runs was Mohammad Ashraful, and Shakib Al Hasan then inaugurated the 4000 runs club. The tale of Tamim, who had just started a club for runners who log between 5000 and 8000 miles, came next.
As Bangladesh will play a good number of ODI matches in the next two-three years, Tamim has a good chance to reach the 10,000 runs club, a feat that was achieved by very few batters of the world.
