Opener Anamul Haque paid a deserving tribute to all those who changed his name from Hasib to Bijoy in his early academic life due to his birth on December 16, raising his performance to optimum levels with a century against Pakistan on Tuesday. Born in Kushtia, the right hander carried the name chosen by the family until he joined BKSP, where teammates change his name to celebrate his date of birth, which coincided with Bangladesh’s victory in the liberation war.
Perhaps that inspired him to his magnificent hundred against Pakistan in their crucial Asia Cup encounter, shaking the nerves of the tourists.
Throughout his effort it seemed that he was destined to give the Pakistani cricketers a run for their money, with a number of hooks and pulls, aided by some graceful drives and cuts, helping him register his second ODI hundred.
Anamul, who made 100 off 132 balls, never looked to be awed by the opposition, and instead of getting bogged down he decided to carry on playing the shots that helped to bring smiles to near-capacity crowd at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
Apart from getting back into form, the performance was necessary to bring back the self-belief among his teammates, who were subject to humiliation for their recent efforts, including the embarrassing 32-run defeat against Afghanistan.
The Bangladesh Cricket Board took a swipe at the national skipper and the coach, and many other names cropped up for being disinterested, but the on-and-off nature of the national team managed to stay away in the Bangladesh innings this time thanks to the extra commitment that Anamul showed in the match.
Apart from taking 19 balls to earn his hundred after getting into his nervous nineties, he was in control throughout the innings.
The 150-run opening stand between Anamul and Imrul Kayes was the backbone of Bangladesh’s 326-3,
their highest ODI total, beating their previous best of 320 for 8 against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2009.
It was a performance of complete dominance from the home side, and the century opening stand was Bangladesh’s first in nearly four years, since Imrul and Shahriar Nafees put on 127 against New Zealand in October 2010.
BRIEF SCORES
Bangladesh 326-3 in 50 overs (Anamul 100, Imrul 59, Mominul 51, Mushfiq 51, Sakib 44 not out; Ajmal 2-61) v Pakistan 329-7 in 49.5 overs (Shehzad 103, Fawad 74, Afridi 59, Hafeez 52; Mominul 2-37).
Result: Pakistan won by 3 wickets.
Man of the match: S Afridi (PAK)
-With New Age input
