A series of the pacers

It might have ended on a sour note for Bangladesh. After all, nothing would have been sweeter than achieving a whitewash against a side ranked number two in the world.

However, despite the heavy defeat, the fact remains that Bangladesh have achieved a number of things in this series for the first time. It was, no doubt, a landmark series for the Tigers and the numbers go on to prove that.

For starters, left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman achieved a number of records in this series. He scalped 13 wickets in the three-match ODI series. By doing so, he equalled Ryan Harris's record for the most number of wickets in a three-match series. But he does however hold the record of getting the most number of wickets by any bowler in their first three ODIs.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza might not have had a good time on the field yesterday. He went away for 76 runs in his 10 overs and was hit for quite a few boundaries. His economy rate of 7.60 was very unlike him. However, the three wickets that he took helped him overtake slow left-armer Mohammad Rafique as the Bangladeshi with the highest number of wickets against India. It's a record though that is not likely to last very long. Mustafizur already has 13 wickets against them, while Shakib Al Hasan has 17.

The series might have been a disappointment for slow left-armer Shakib who ended the series with just three wickets. He needed two more to become the second Bangladeshi bowler, after Abdur Razzak to take 200 wickets in ODIs.

Nevertheless, Shakib is bound to reach that mark next month when he takes on the South Africans at home. That will be one series where Bangladesh will be expected to play a lot more spin.

For the pacers, this series has been a major success for Bangladesh. Bangladesh's pacers have scalped 21 wickets in this series, which is their highest ever in a bilateral competition. It overtook the 20 wickets taken by pacers back in 2009 in a five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.

On the flipside, Arafat Sunny, who was the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in the last series against Pakistan, got a rude awakening in his first match of the India series yesterday as he was taken away for 42 runs in six overs. Thirteen matches into his ODI career, this is his worst bowling effort in terms of economy rate.

With another series to go, there is no doubt these numbers will change very soon.