Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal beat competition from established stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Jacques Kallis to be named Wisden Cricketer magazine's 'World Test Player of the Year'.
Tamim heads a field of exceptional performers, beating England off-spinner Graeme Swann into second place and Sehwag into third.
The accolade completes a remarkable double success for Bangladesh which has now produced successive Test Players of the Year, former captain Shakib-Al-Hassan taking the award in 2009.
Tamim scored 837 runs at 59.78 in seven Tests during 2010, despite his team failing to win a single one of them during the year.
"Batting with a bulldozer mentality that drew rightful comparisons with the mighty Virender Sehwag, Tamim took the attitude that all bowlers were there to be destroyed, irrespective of method or reputation. Though his highest score of 151 came against India at Dhaka back in January, his finest performances were reserved for an England attack that put all other opponents in their pockets during a remarkable and
unbeaten 18 months," the magazine wrote in its citation for the batsman.
"England in 2010 was no place to be a visiting batsman. With the Dukes ball doing handstands in swing-friendly conditions, Tamim surged to a brace of glorious hundreds at Lord's and Old Trafford that scrambled England's gameplans and left them waiting for errors that rarely materialised," it added.
Wisden Cricketer Test Player of the Year:
1.Tamim Iqbal, 2.Graeme Swann, 3.Virender Sehwag, 4.Simon Katich, 5.Dale Steyn, 6.Morne Morkel, 7.Sachin Tendulkar, 8.Zaheer Khan, 9.Jacques Kallis, 9.James Anderson.
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