Shamsur Rahman and Imrul Kayes have a gulf of difference in their personalities and it was evident in how they celebrated their respective maiden Test centuries against Sri Lanka in Chittagong on Thursday. While Shamsur punched the air and screamed before raising his bat, Imrul offered only a sijdah, a traditional celebration for many Muslim cricketers.Irrespective of style in their celebrations, these centuries are very important in the career of both the cricketers, who have been struggling to find their feet in international cricket for many days.
Shamsur might be playing in just his second Test but he has been in and out of the national side for at least five years now.
Imrul on the other hand had reasons to believe that his position was secured especially after his two match-winning knocks in the ICC 2011 World Cup at this very ground, but when he lost it to Anamul Haque it took him nearly two years to script a comeback.
So they both had some personal motivation to go for a big innings in the match, which, after an embarrassing innings and 248-run defeat in the first Test, offered Bangladesh their best hope of regaining some pride.
The team’s goal happily aligned with the batsmen’s own as Bangladesh were looking for a strong foundation in their attempt to pass the follow-on mark and go as close as possible to Sri Lanka’s gigantic first innings total of 587.
They were successful in achieving the first target but going close to Sri Lanka’s innings is a far cry as they have just two wickets in hand with 178 runs still in arrears, having reached 409-8 at close of play on the third day.
Shumsur and Imrul held themselves primarily responsible for spoiling the good work that deterred Bangladesh from going into an even better position at the end of the day’s play.
‘I was out from a bad shot,’ Shamsur regretted in the post-day press conference. ‘Imrul was also out from a bad shot. We were not able to bat in a calculative way, I would say. If we had done this may be we would have two or three more wickets in our hand.’
‘Both of us wanted to prolong our innings as long as possible. But I was out suddenly,’ said Shamsur after his maiden Test century ended on 106.
Imrul, however, had some excuses as he batted with pain which sometimes prevented him from playing his natural, holding game. The left-hander revealed that he suffered a groin injury while taking his first run on the second day. He was later hit by a ball on his ribcage, causing severe pain.
‘I had to bat with pain. Nobody has realised it and only the physio knew. He always advised me to remain strong and gave me some pain-killers,’ Imrul said. ‘So I did not take the pain into consideration.’
Imrul, who scored 115, had to be taken off the field in a stretcher with a pulled hamstring as he stepped out to loft Ajantha Mendis and was bowled after missing the line. Imrul was lucky to reach the century though after surviving twice in an over from Mendis when on 95.
The first time he was dropped by Kithuruwan Vithanage at point, but when the same fielder took a catch three balls later, the umpire declared it as a no-ball. Imrul said he wanted to push Mendis’ first ball of that over through the cover region and despite the life, went for his shot anyway as he already heard the no-ball call.
‘I heard the no-ball call, but it was a quicker delivery, may be this is why it did not go all the way,’ said the left-hander.
-With New Age input
