Cricket World Player of the Week - Mushfiqur Rahim

Bangladesh's wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim's 237 runs took Bangladesh to a 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka. Rahim was adjudged the Player of the Series.

Mushfiqur Rahim made crucial contributions in the three-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh played in Dhaka. The batsman who was promoted up the order in the series contributed with a match-defining 84 in the series opener and a match-winning 125 in the next game.

His only failure in the series came after he got a start in the final ODI and was dismissed for 28. Bangladesh went on to lose the match by a big margin of 97 runs while chasing Sri Lanka's target of 287.

Rahim smashed 237 runs in the series, the most by any batsman, that too by a fair margin, at an average of 79 with the help of 14 boundaries. He was awarded the Player of the Series for his efforts and had this to say after receiving the award:

Mushfiqur Rahim has broken into the top 15 of @MRFWorldwide ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings for batting after his stunning performance in the first two #BANvSL ODIs ??

Full rankings: https://t.co/tHR5rKl2SH pic.twitter.com/6li8uzIzZa

— ICC (@ICC) May 26, 2021

"The boys worked really hard for the series. Last few months we haven't played our best cricket but we executed our plans well in the first two games of this series. If you play international cricket for 15 years, you need to contribute more and more. Sri Lanka aren't an easy side to score against, they like to come hard against us, they never give up. I enjoy the responsibility, whenever there is pressure on me, I like to stay calm. It gives me the urge to do well."

Rahim was quite inconsistent to begin with, but he has come a long way, having scored 6,581 runs from 227 ODIs at an average of 37.18 with the help of eight centuries and 40 half-centuries.

Rahim is currently ranked second in the list of the highest ODI run-scorers for Bangladesh, just behind Tamim Iqbal.

© Cricket World 2021