Until the World Cup, all-rounder Sakib al Hasan had a personal battle with opener Tamim Iqbal as they were chasing the honour of becoming the first Bangladeshi to reach the 4,000 one-day international runs.
Sakib won the battle as he completed the feat in their World Cup opener against Afghanistan when he scored 63 runs at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Sakib and Tamim began the match, needing 23 and 29 runs respectively but Tamim had the better chance to achieve it first being an opener.
However, Tamim could make only 19 runs, falling 10 short of the feat and Sakib grabbed his opportunity to add another feather to his already glittering career.
When Bangladesh play South Africa in the first one-day international on July 10 in Dhaka, the all-rounder will be engaged in a similar battle, albeit for a bowling milestone, with his captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza.
The duo is chasing the milestone of 200 ODI wickets almost from a similar distance with Sakib currently having 198 wickets and Mashrafee staying hot on the heels with 197 wickets.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak is the leading ODI wicket taker for Tigers with 207 scalps, but with him nowhere in the selection radar, both of them have a golden opportunity to overtake him in the coming days.
And this could very well happen in the South Africa series when Bangladesh will play three ODIs against the visitors.
The Proteas are due to reach Dhaka on June 29 for a month-long series which also includes two Twenty20 Internationals and two Tests.
Mashrafee and Sakib’s battle heats up in the final one-dayer against India when Bangladesh skipper grabbed 3-76 and Sakib was left satisfied with 1-33.
Bangladesh’s bowling coach Heath Streak is eagerly waiting to see the outcome of the battle in the upcoming series that he believes would be a great achievement for either or both players.
Asked who he believes is the favourite to reach the landmark first, Streak puts his money on Mashrafee.
‘It’s a very difficult question to answer,’ Streak told New Age on Friday.
‘Both of them are doing extremely well and going through a good phase as far as their bowling is concerned.
‘Mashrafee have more chances as he will be opening the bowling or probably use the balls earlier than Sakib.
‘He [Mashrafee] is an intelligent bowler who bowls according to his strength and force the opposition making mistakes,’ said Streak.
Streak, however, did not rule out the chance of Sakib.
‘Sakib is definitely a rare talent and capable of demolishing any batting unit and on his day,’ said Streak.
‘It would be pleasing if Mashrafee and Sakib reach the milestone in the same match.’
Once achieved Sakib will join Sanath Jayasuriya, Jacques Kallis, Shahid Afridi, Chris Harris, Chris Cairns and Abdul Razzak in a select group of all-rounders to score 4000 runs and get 200 wickets.
Source: New Age
