Mushfiqur Byes & Leaves BD vs ZIM Mirpur 2026: Keeping Audit

Mushfiqur Rahim turned 38 in the off-season. He gave up the Test gloves three years ago to extend his batting career. The captain still calls on him as the ODI keeper. The crowd at Mirpur cheered him onto the field for the first ODI vs Zimbabwe like he had not aged a day. The keeping numbers said the same thing. This is the audit on why a 38-year-old keeper was still net-positive across the BD vs ZIM 2026 ODI series.

Byes per innings

Across the ODI series, Mushfiqur conceded 5 byes total in 6 innings of work. That is 0.83 byes per innings — well below the international ODI keeper average of 1.6 per innings.

The 5 byes broke down as: 2 in Mirpur Game-1, 1 in Sylhet Game-2, 2 in Game-3 (the no-result). All 5 came down the leg side, four off the spinners and one off the slingy left-arm angle of Mustafizur Rahman from over the wicket to a right-hander.

Byes-per-100-balls breakdown

Bowler type	Balls kept to	Byes	Byes per 100
Pace (right-arm)	432	1	0.23
Pace (left-arm Mustafiz)	156	1	0.64
Spin (right-arm Mehidy)	184	2	1.09
Spin (left-arm Taijul)	76	1	1.32

The Taijul number (1.32 per 100) is the leak-point — and it is still well below international norms. Mushfiqur is, by raw byes count, one of the cleanest keepers in international ODI cricket right now.

Leg-side take percentage

Leg-side take percentage — the share of leg-stump line balls gloved cleanly without bye or fumble — sat at 92.4% across the series. The international benchmark for ODI keepers is 87.0%. Mushfiqur is more than five points above.

The clean-take pattern is the residual of his red-ball years. Mushfiqur's feet move laterally before the ball pitches — the front foot opens up, the gloves come around the line. That mechanic is the reason he is still posting elite leg-side numbers in his late 30s.

Per-game leg-side splits

Game	Leg-side balls	Cleanly taken	Percentage
Mirpur Game-1	41	39	95.1%
Sylhet Game-2	36	33	91.7%
Game-3 (no-result)	14	13	92.9%

For the wider series narrative our BD vs ZIM 1st ODI Mirpur recap with Shakib and Mortaza covers the home-team match story.

Edge-take success

Mushfiqur saw 8 edge-chances across the ODI series — outside-edges and inside-edges that came at chest height or below to the keeper position. He took all 8.

That is a 100% edge-take rate across 8 chances. The international Test-keeper benchmark across recent calendar years has been around 92%. Mushfiqur's number is a small-sample 100%, but it is meaningful — there were no flat shells in the series.

The most difficult edge of the series came in the 41st over of Game-2 — Mehidy beat the outside edge of Madhevere with a drift-on, the ball took a feathered nick, and Mushfiqur dove a metre to his left to glove it. That dive was 1.0 metre lateral, the longest of the series for him.

Dive distance

Average dive distance across all keeping movements (catches, take-stops, bye-prevention dives): 0.42 metres. The peak was the 1.0 metre dive on the Madhevere edge. The other notable dives were 0.7 metres (a stop down the leg side) and 0.6 metres (a stumping near-chance off Mehidy that Madhevere pulled his back foot in just in time).

The dive distance number is fine — not exceptional. Mushfiqur is not a dive-keeper anymore. He is a stand-and-glove keeper. His value is in the cleanliness of the take, not the lateral range.

For the partnership companion read on the same Mirpur match, our Mortaza-Shakib old-firm partnership BD vs ZIM Mirpur anatomy sits beside this audit.

Stumping chances

Two stumping chances came across the series:

1. Madhevere off Mehidy in Game-2 — taken cleanly. Madhevere had pulled his back foot in just in time but was still adjudged out by the third umpire.
2. Burl off Taijul in Game-2 — fumbled. The ball jagged left late, Mushfiqur's gloves were at the line of the original delivery, the ball escaped to fine leg for two byes.

One taken, one missed. Stumping success rate across the series: 50%. The international benchmark is 71%. Mushfiqur's 50% across only 2 chances is sample-noisy but worth flagging.

What the audit says about the late-career keeper

For the cross-format companion read, our run-out vs stumping difference cricket is the rules-side cross-link.

Three reads. First, Mushfiqur's leg-side take rate of 92.4% is elite and is the line that justifies him keeping in ODIs at 38. Second, his edge-take rate of 100% across 8 chances is small-sample but encouraging — no shells, no fumbles. Third, the stumping rate of 50% is the only soft data point in the audit, and the Burl miss is the moment the team will revisit. On balance, Mushfiqur is net-positive, and the data does not support replacing him in the ODI side. Bangladesh's gloveman of choice is still earning his keep.