The 23-year-old fast bowler became the first Bangladeshi to reach the milestone as he took two wickets during the Tigers' six-wicket victory over visiting Scotland at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium. Mashrafee reached 47 scalps, taking over from Australian swing bowler Nathan Bracken who has taken 46 wickets.

Mathematically, Mashrafee's record is untouchable as his closest competitors Nathan Bracken (46) and Brett Lee (44) are not scheduled to play any ODI while Jerome Taylor and Abdul Razzaq must take eight wickets in their last one-day match of the year -- in Karachi today -- to touch the man they call 'Narail Express'.

His teammate and Tigers vice-captain Shahriar Nafees also reached a significant milestone as he completed 1,000 runs in a calendar year. The young left-hander glanced opposing skipper Craig Wright to the fine-leg fence to reach the required 27 runs.

On a near-perfect day for Bangladesh, the two record holders expressed their satisfaction in attaining their respective milestones. Nafees, who scored three centuries in the year, said that the feat was not on his mind when the year began.

"That (the record) was not on my mind after that duck against Sri Lanka back in February, I can remember that," revealed Nafees.

"It is true that we played many matches against them (Zimbabwe and Kenya) but I would say that these were pressure games for us as we just had to win.

"We knew that if we could make winning a habit against minnows then we will be in a position to fight against the top sides. We won most of those matches and we are now more confident," said Nafees who scored 36 against Scotland on the day of his record.

But young Nafees voiced his dissatisfaction in not being able to play Test cricket often.

"For me the ultimate (challenge) is Test cricket but there are no Test matches in 14 months for Bangladesh, which is very unfortunate for Bangladesh cricket as well as its cricketers.

"If we had played some more Test matches this year then that would have helped Bangladesh and would have been beneficial for the players."

Mashrafee, however, was unaware of his achievement. "I thought I needed one more wicket to get the record, but when I returned in the dressing room I was told that I have done it."

"It is quite difficult (on home pitches) but there is no pressure at all. I always enjoy playing in front of our crowd no matter what kind of pitches are on offer," said Mashrafee who rated his 6-23 against Kenya back in August as his best effort.

"If there were no injuries then I might have bowled faster only. I might not have learnt the control in line and length.

"What has happened in the past is over. I am happy with the present and looking ahead to the future," concluded the young bowler who now joined the likes of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Alan Donald as the top wicket-takers in a calendar year.

For Nafees, he has West Indies' dasher Chris Gayle and the Sri Lankan trio of Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and Sanath Jayasuriya ahead of him and must now look to flourish in the years to come.