Why isn't Mushfiqur Rahim in the conversation as a modern Test cricket great?

Rahim made his Test debut before the likes of MS Dhoni, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Hussey, and Alastair Cook. Two decades on, he is the only player to have debuted in 2005 still active in Test cricket.

Averaging under 20 after his first 12 Tests, Rahim steadily but unremarkably grew into his Test career in his first decade at the international level, establishing himself as Bangladesh's No.1 wicketkeeper across formats. His first ton came in 2010: a counter-attacking 101 from No.7 in a steep run-chase against India. The second took three years to come, and the third, just one.

By the end of 2015, Rahim had managed to bring his average up into the early thirties - 32.31 to be precise - not world-class in what was one of the better batting eras, but decent enough as far as Bangladesh were concerned. Still in relative infancy as a Test team, they had found a reliable wicketkeeper-batter who was an excellent player of spin and someone who could be entrusted with leadership roles.

Rahim played only two Tests in 2016, against England. He didn’t have much impact with the bat but led Bangladesh to a historic victory in one of those, drawing the series 1-1.

2017 is when his Test career took off.

Along with Shakib Al Hasan, Rahim added a mammoth 359 runs for the fifth wicket in Bangladesh’s first Test of the year, in Wellington against an attack comprising Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner, and Mitchell Santner. It remains the highest partnership in Bangladesh cricket history. The 159 he made was the first ever 150-plus score by an Asian wicketkeeper in a SENA country.

Bangladesh had not yet mastered the art of converting positions of advantage into victory. They lost that game. But Rahim’s ton (and Shakib’s double) instilled a level of self-belief that would see him go on to score eight more, including the latest one at Galle, over the next eight years.

Before the Wellington Test, Rahim had made 2,750 runs at 31.97 from exactly 50 games. Since then, his numbers read 3,410 runs from 47 Tests at 44.86. Only four players have scored more runs at a higher average than Rahim in this period. Virat Kohli (44.43), Usman Khawaja (44.35), and Babar Azam (43.82), among others, average less than him.

Why then, does his name not come up in conversations around the best batters in modern Test cricket?

Also read: Mushfiqur Rahim reaches 6000 Test runs: Who's the first to the landmark from each team?

Highest Test batting averages since 2017 (min 25 Tests)

There’s a combination of factors.

The simplest answer to that, perhaps, lies in the lasting impression created by the first half of his career. His average of 30, accumulated over 10 years, is hard to shake off unless the turnaround is drastic. In Rahim’s case, while he has truly gone toe-to-toe against the very best in the last eight years, the general dip in batting output across the board has meant that he is averaging in the mid-40s in his better years, and not in the high-50s.

The structural imbalance in Test cricket, which restricts Bangladesh’s exposure to SENA countries, has also played its part

Since 2017, Rahim has played only six Tests in SENA countries - two in New Zealand, from which he averages 94.50, and four in South Africa, where his average reads 19. He (and Bangladesh) have played no Test matches in England or Australia in this period. Even at home, they have faced SENA teams only six times - twice each against New Zealand, South Africa, and Australia. England haven’t toured since the 2016 series.

For better or for worse, what has separated the perception of a good Asian batters from the best over the years has been their performances in and against SENA countries. Rahim hasn’t got enough opportunities to tick that box in his prime years. His overall career average of 21.92 from 14 SENA Tests doesn’t inspire confidence in hypothetical assumptions of him doing well had he got those opportunities either.

These limitations, some his own doing and some not, have affected his stature in recent years. He has, however, controlled most of his controllables.

Since 2017, Rahim’s home and away average split reads 43.93 and 46.15. The four away tons include the 159 in Wellington, a near double-hundred (191) that resulted in a historic win in Rawalpindi, the first-ever hundred by a Bangladeshi batter in a Test in India (127 in Hyderabad), and the Galle century in the ongoing match. At home, he has cashed in and how: three unbeaten scores of 175-plus, including two double hundreds, and two more centuries against Ireland and Sri Lanka.

Mushfiqur Rahim's Test record by venue since 2017

In fact, since the start of 2020, Rahim averages (46.42), more than Steve Smith (46.17) in the format, which, in a way, sums up the whole argument pretty neatly. At the peak of his powers, Rahim’s average has only marginally pipped Smith’s, who, on the other hand, is considered to be on the decline.

He’ll surely go down as Bangladesh’s greatest Test batter whose late surge placed him amongst the best of his contemporaries, a feat that went largely unnoticed and perhaps didn’t get the kind of recognition it deserved.

But he was never really in contention to be regarded among the absolute top echelon of batters of the era. And that is perfectly fine. Rahim didn’t begin with the privileges that greats from established Test nations did.

To have done all he has, and lasted as long as he has, is greatness in its own right.

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