Mushfiqur Rahim got his reward for his consistent batting as he scored a brilliant century in the first one-day international of three-match series against Pakistan in Dhaka on Friday. Widely acclaimed as technically most sound Bangladeshi batsman these days, Mushfiq was instrumental to Bangladesh’s success in the recent World Cup. He struck three fifties in the World Cup and the Tigers went to win all three matches to turn the corner as they ousted England from the group stage.
Yet, the right-hander had one regret as he could not convert any of his three fifties into a century despite he had time and ball with him on all three occasions.
The former one-day skipper now grabbed his first opportunity after the World Cup, scoring 106 off 77 balls that catapulted the Tigers to their highest one-day score of 329-6.
Mushfiq did not curb his attacking instinct to reach the milestone as he completed his fifty off 42 balls and took just another 27 balls to get into three-figure mark.
Bangladesh were precariously at 67-2 in 20-over mark when Mushfiq joined Tamim as they were struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking against Saeed Ajmal and Wahab Riaz.
Mushfiq shifted the momentum pulling debutant Saad Nasim for a midwicket boundary off the fourth ball he faced. Little did Pakistan know this was the beginning of an outstanding partnership which had left their bowlers clueless.
In his first ever century partnership with Tamim, Mushfiq helped the Tigers add 178 runs for the third wicket which came off just 130 balls at 8.21 per over.
Mushfiq however had Junaid Khan to thank as the paceman dropped him on 35 when he attempted for a slog sweep off occasional spinner Azhar Ali.
03The same slog sweep cost him his wicket and potential centuries against Scotland and England in the World Cup and he was about to suffer the same fate in this match.
However, Junaid somehow managed to drop it despite he had all the time to settle underneath at mid on and Mushfiq never looked back.
He struck two of the most beautiful shots, one late cut following by a glide in the consecutive deliveries of Ajmal at 45th over, both resulting boundaries to complete his third ODI century off only 69 balls.
This was only the first time two Bangladeshi batsmen scored a century in the same innings and Mushfiq owed a lot of credit for it. He was batting on 79 when Tamim got out but Mushfiq made sure it did not affect his concentration.
He took a single off the next ball and then hit Ajmal two sixes in the next over to move into nineties. He, along with Tamim, ruined Ajmal’s comeback after remodeling his action as the off-spinner conceded 74 runs without any success, his worst bowling figure in 112-match.
-With New Age input
