The experienced Mushfiqur Rahim has become the first wicketkeeper-batsman to score two double centuries in Test cricket.
Rahim achieved the feat on day two of Bangladesh’s second Test against Zimbabwe at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.
His 219 not out, which spanned 421 deliveries and featured 18 fours and one six, powered the hosts to a hefty 522-7 declared.
He also became the first Bangladeshi to strike two double tons in the longest format of the international game. His previous double century – exactly 200 – was amassed against Sri Lanka in Galle four years ago.
The talented AB de Villiers was the designated wicketkeeper for 2012’s 169 against Australia in Perth and 2013’s 164 against Pakistan in 2013. However, a South African wicketkeeper-batsman has never scored a double century in Test competition.
The late Denis Lindsay’s 182 against the Australians in Johannesburg in 1966 is the country’s highest Test score by a wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket.
Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara collected 11 200-plus scores in Test cricket, but only one was struck as a designated wicketkeeper-batsman, against Pakistan in Lahore in 2002.
Former Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist gathered a double ton against South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in 2002, but never managed a second.
The closest he came was 2005’s 162 against New Zealand in Wellington and, four years earlier, 152 versus England in Wellington.
Photo: Munir us Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
