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| Mustafizur Rahman The Cutter Boy |
Bangladesh wonder-kid Mustafizur Rahman has recorded another quite unique and impressive record to his name. The Satkhira-born paceman, who claimed 8 wickets in 3 matches against Zimbabwe in the recently concluded ODI series with a five-wicket haul in the last match, has now the best average among the bowlers who claimed more than 25 wickets in ODIs. His average of 12.34 for his 26 wickets in nine matches is by far better than West Indies’ Ottis Gibson, the next man in the list, who claimed 34 wickets at 18.26.
The third man in the list is Joel Garner who took a total of 146 wickets throughout his career, maintaining a decent average of 18.84. As far as wickets are concerned, the West Indian pacer from Barbados is way ahead of Mustafizur. But the 20-year-old Bangladeshi has just begun his career in June this year and if he can continue his good run at international level, it’s quite certain that he too will be able to take as many or even more wickets than the West Indian. But it will then be interesting to see if he can do so with his current average, which will be definitely a very tough task.
In the meantime, another great record is on offer for the cutter master. He has so far picked 26 ODI wickets in just 9 matches. The way he is going right now, it should not be much of a problem for him to go past the 50-wickets mark in next 10 matches. And if he can do so, then he will be the fastest (in terms of matches played) man in history to take 50 wickets in ODIs. The record is currently held by Sri Lanka’s once-upon-a-time mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis. It took Mendis only 19 matches to notch 50 ODI wickets.
