Mortaza was instrumental in the second victory, coming in with the score on 120/7 chasing 185 to win. He guided his team home with a 43 not out, farming the strike to protect the Bangladesh tail. Mortaza took career-best bowling figures of 6/26 from his 10 overs in the final ODI, ensuring Bangladesh were chasing a low target. His figures are also the best in ODIs by any Bangladesh cricketer. In the calendar year of 2006 Mortaza was the world's highest wicket taker in ODIs, collecting 49 wickets. The haul was the most ever in a calendar year by a Bangladeshi, and 17th most for anyone. In a freak accident shortly before the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy Mortaza sprained his ankle on the stairs at home. As a result, he was ruled out of the warm-up matches before the tournament which was held on October. Mortaza recovered in time to play in all three of Bangladesh's matches, taking two wickets at 50.50, as Bangladesh failed to progress beyond the first round. 2007 World Cup and vice-captaincy In February 2007, Bangladesh again toured Zimbabwe for a one-day series, this time as a prelude to the 2007 World Cup. Bangladesh won the four match series 3–1, and Mortaza finished as Bangladesh's leading wicket-taker with 8 wickets at 16.50. When Bangladesh beat New Zealand in a warm-up match before the World Cup, Mortaza produced what was described as a "fine all-round display". He took four wickets and scored an unbeaten 30 off 16 balls to ensure victory by two wickets. He was also the man of the match in Bangladesh's victory over India during the group stage of the 2007 World Cup, taking 4/38; at the time they were the best figures by a Bangladesh bowler at a World Cup. Bangladesh progressed to the second round of the tournament, and Mortaza played in all nine of the team's matches, taking nine wickets at an average of 35.88. Shortly after the World Cup, India toured Bangladesh for two Test matches and three ODIs. Bangladesh lost the Test series 1–0, but Mortaza finished as both the team's leading run-scorer and wicket-taker with 151 runs at 50.33 with two fifties—including his maiden Test half-century—and 6 wickets at 38.33. Bangladesh lost the ODI series 2–0. After Habibul Bashar stepped down from Bangladesh's one-day captaincy, Mohammad Ashraful was appointed the team captain in all forms of cricket on