Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal’s wait for his elusive fifth Test century was prolonged further after he departed five runs short against New Zealand during the first innings of the rain-hit second Test match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Monday. The left-hander made a chancy 95 runs and was all set to complete his fifth Test century before he lost his composure and attempted an unnecessary late-cut off a short-pitch delivery from Neil Wagner, offering a catch at slip that was taken sharply by Kane Williamson.
Tamim’s departure disappointed not only him, but also the few thousand spectators present at the SBNS and the Tigers ever-increasing TV audience, as his last Test century came in 2010 against England in their own den.
Prior to this match, Tamim had played 10 Tests since his last hundred but could never reach the elusive three-digit score despite scoring 611 runs at an average of 30.55, including four half-centuries.
Lady luck also favoured the southpaw to keep him at the crease for 222 minutes, who could well have been sitting in the dressing room at five runs and again at 10 had the New Zealanders taken two catches early on.
Left-arm pace bowler Doug Bracewell could rue his luck, as he was on the receiving end on both occasions. Wicket-keeper BJ Watling spilled the first catch diving to take a snick that flew to first slip before an outside edge was dropped by skipper Brendon McCullum at slip five runs later.
After those two initial hiccups, Tamim started to take control of proceedings and was involved in two partnerships worth mentioning after losing his opening partner Anamul Haque early on. He added 67 runs with Marshall Ayub (41) before his third-wicket stand with Mominul Haque (47) produced 76 runs.
Tamim, who made his fifty – his first of the two Test series – in 76 balls before lunch was again lucky after he resumed batting, when the Kiwis spurned another chance for a run out.
Tamim defended a delivery from Boult in the 31st over and set off straight away. Bracewell sprinted in from mid-on and was actually past the stumps when he collected the ball and tried to flick the ball back onto the stumps but missed with Tamim struggling.
Despite scoring 95, Tamim never looked to have the kind of dominance that has been his trademark style of batting, and his eagerness to come out of his shell was demonstrated after he reached 70 runs, when he decided to take control of the game on his own terms.
He spanked six boundaries and a single to quickly get to 95 runs, but his desire to play ambitiously eventually brought his downfall, making him wait even longer to end his 40-month Test century drought.
-With New Age input
