Ashraful puts his name in the hat ahead of SL tour

Mohammad Ashraful boosted his chance of making a comeback in the national side for the upcoming Sri Lanka with an impressive century in the Bangladesh Premier League in Dhaka on Monday.
With his four of five Test centuries coming against the island nation, Ashraful is hopeful that the selectors would consider him for the two-Test series, which begins at Galle on March 8.
All he needed was some performance to back his claim and he has at least something to speak for him in the Bangladesh Premier League and in the preceding Bangladesh Cricket League longer-version tournament.
The 28-year-old right-hander was at his prolific best when he hammered an unbeaten 103 from 58 balls to lead Dhaka Gladiators to a six-wicket win in Dhaka.
This is the second time Ashraful has won a game for Gladiators in this BPL and it could not have come at a better time.
‘I hope the selectors will also consider my record in Sri Lanka, apart from this innings. I am confident that if get a chance I will do well,’ said Ashraful at the post-match press conference.
‘Before the BCL (the four-day league), it looked as if I have forgotten how to play cricket. But the century in Bogra brought my confidence back,’ said Ashraful, referring to his 133 against BCB north-zone.
Ashraful, who earned a reputation of being consistently inconsistent, said he had been batting well in the BPL, but wasn’t lucky enough to play a big innings.
‘In the last two matches I got out on the boundary rope,’ said Ashraful. ‘But sometimes you got to be lucky to get a big innings. Today I had the luck with
me and I made it count,’ said Ashraful, who survived at least twice in his innings.
‘Everything went in my favour today (Monday). I reached my fifty in 10 overs or so. So I thought if I can bat till the end maybe I will get it,’ said Ashraful.
‘It was a beautiful wicket to bat on. When they made 176 runs we were saying that they got it 20 runs short, so I was confident of a win,’ said Ashraful, adding that he had also benefitted from an advice of team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan.
After he struck Farhad Reza for a boundary with a scoop shot, Dilshan rushed to him and asked to play straight. Ashraful obliged by hitting Afghan pacer Shapoor Zadran a six straight over the long-off fence to show his intent.
Ashraful said he never played for his century and rather thought for the team.
‘When I was close to a hundred I could have got it with ones or twos. But I thought for my team and tried to play my natural shots. It’s really a great feeling to get a century in the Twenty20 format,’ said Ashraful.