For Bangladesh paceman Al Amin Hossain, the only success so far came in the form of picking up the prized scalp of Sri Lankan batting stalwart Kumar Sangakkara on the second day of the first Test match in Dhaka on Tuesday. The Tigers have always felt that Sangakkara has been one of the major obstacles in the Lankan batting line-up whenever the two teams have come up against each other as the 36-year old veteran batsman has made his presence felt in all of the 14 Test matches between the two sides.
Sangakkara always had a liking for the Bangladesh bowling attack and he has been largely untroubled as five centuries and two double hundreds will testify that the newest Test playing nation is his favourite opposition.
Sangakkara, who averages 81.88 against Bangladesh in Tests, showed his real character during the previous series played between the two teams in Sri Lanka last year.
Coming back from a long lay-off, the elegant left-hander scored three
back-to-back Test centuries in the two-match Test series to help the islanders to a 1-0 series win.
And the left-hander gave all the indications that he was in for a long stint at the crease before Al Amin dismissed him for 75 much to the satisfaction of the lanky pacer.
‘When I got Sangakkara’s wicket, I was feeling really good,’ Al Amin told reporters at the post-match conference after the day’s play.
‘Generally when he plays well he plays for a long time, so I felt good,’ said Al Amin adding that ‘luck was not favouring me but I tried to bowl well and it paid off at the end after I got Sangakkara’s wicket.’
Bangladesh, who mostly opts for three spinners and two pacemen in a Test match, had to reverse their plan of action and include Al Amin in the playing XI as it was hard to ignore his domestic form.
Al Amin became the latest Bangladeshi cricketer to make history in an eventful 2013, taking five wickets in an over against Abahani Limited in the Amber Victory Day Twenty20 Cup in Sylhet on December 26.
Al-Amin took the ball for the final over of Abahani’s innings and accounted for the wicket of Mehedi Maruf with the first ball as Arafat Sunny held on to the catch.
Nazmul Milon took two off the next delivery before Al-Amin made him the first of four consecutive victims and tied Andre Russell’s record for four wickets off successive deliveries, set in Bangalore in September last year when the West Indies A side toured India.
Al Amin, who made his Test debut during the New Zealand series at home in 2013, could have added a couple of wickets more to his tally had skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and Shamsur Rahman held onto catches offered by Sri Lankan opener Kushal Silva, who later struck his maiden Test hundred.
Luck continued to desert Al Amin as he forced an edge off Silva that was caught by Mushfiq only to be denied by a no-ball as he had dislodged the stumps, while bowling, at the non-striking end.
‘In the beginning two catches were dropped and then there was that unexpected no-ball. So at that time I was thinking whether or not I would get wickets,’ said the 24-year pacer.
‘It feels really bad that I was bowling so well without getting wickets. But I tried to stay calm and told myself that maybe another chance will come if I work hard,’ he said adding that ‘our aim will be to bowl them out within 450. We have to make the most of the morning session tomorrow.’
-With New Age input
