Mominul Haque missed out on a double century by a whisker but his magical 181 did enough to put Bangladesh in a comfortable position in the first Test against New Zealand in Chittagong on Friday. The 22-year-old left-handed batsman, nicknamed Sourav, flayed the bowlers with disdain as Bangladesh, replying to New Zealand’s first innings total of 469, cruised to 380-7 at the end of the third day’s play.
Mominul thoroughly deserved his double century, a feat previously achieved only by his skipper Mushfiqur Rahim as a Bangladeshi cricketer in a Test match against Sri Lanka earlier this year.
A moment of lapse in concentration cost him his wicket, just 19 short of the milestone, though his innings is still regarded as one of the finest Test innings played by a Bangladeshi batsman.
His 274-balls innings, adorned with 27 fours, is also the highest by a Bangladeshi at home bettering Mohammad Ashraful’s 158 against India in the other ground of the same city in 2004.
Record apart, his innings was also crucial for Bangladesh, who were heavily demoralised after New Zealand racked up 127 runs in the last wicket stand and losing two wickets early in their innings.
Mominul launched a counter-attack to snatch the momentum away from New Zealand and built on his overnight 77 on the third day to put the visitors under some pressure finally in the game.
New Zealand were surprised to say the least seeing him batting this way on the second day, but they had their time to analyse his batting overnight and set a plan against him.
But whatever the plan they had made, Mominul spoiled it to race to his maiden Test hundred off 98 balls with a beautiful boundary through the cover point, his 18th of the innings, which also made him the second quickest Test centurion for Bangladesh.
Tamim Iqbal holds the record of quickest century, reaching the three-figure mark from 94 balls against England at Lord’s in 2010.
Unlike Tamim, Mominul was also involved in some crucial partnerships, the first of them being his 126-run second-wicket stand with debutant overnight batsman Marshall Ayub.
New Zealand managed to get rid of Marshall (26) but Sakib al Hasan, joining up with Mominul, denied them further success until the tea break.
Sakib uncharacteristically played the second fiddle to Mominul during their 46-run fourth-wicket stand and just when he decided to open up and struck his first boundary, the former skipper lost his wicket in the next ball.
The best part of Bangladesh innings came after Mushfiq replaced Sakib at the crease and played some strokes of his own. It eased the pressure on Mominul and the duo successfully averted the danger of a follow on with Bangladesh reaching 272-4 during the tea break.
Mominul and Mushfiq fell in successive overs but not before the duo had put on 121 runs for the fifth wicket, something which was morale-shattering for New Zealand.
Mushfiq played extremely well and struck 10 fours and two sixes before he edged Dough Bracewell to Ross Taylor at first slip for 67.
Nasir Hossain had the perfect platform to play his strokes and got a start before wasting it by getting dismissed on 46.
With no other specialist batsman left, Bangladesh, who still trail New Zealand by 89 runs, now aim to prolong their innings as much as possible to add some runs and kill some valuable time to keep up the pressure on the visitors.
-With New Age input
