As the final day of the second Test match between hosts Bangladesh and New Zealand was lost to rain, young prodigy Mominul Haque was left three runs short of a potentially glorious record.
Former captain Habibul Bashar holds the record for the highest aggregate of runs in a Test series for a Bangladeshi batsman. In three away Tests against Pakistan a decade ago, Habibul had accumulated 379 runs.
Mominul was not far off. In fact, the 22-year-old left-handed batsman was only three runs short of the record, and that too having played a Test less than Bashar.
However, with the entire fifth day being affected by continuous drizzle, Mominul lost a golden opportunity to take a shot at the 10-year old record.
Despite the near miss, the diminutive batsman was his usual effervescent self, brushing aside suggestions of any regrets.
‘I heard about it [record] but I have no regrets. Maybe I could have been dismissed off the first ball!’ said a nonchalant Mominul at the post-match news conference at Mirpur on Friday.
‘The rain totally depends on the Almighty Allah. I am not that frustrated. There’s a saying, whatever the Creator does, does for the best.’
With 376 runs in two Test matches against the Kiwis, including back-to-back hundreds and an incredulous average reading 188, it did not take a rocket scientist to guess the winner of the man-of-the-series award at the end of the day.
It was the seventh instance that a Bangladeshi cricketer claimed the man-of-the-series award in a Test series. In the process, Mominul also became the sixth Bangladeshi cricketer to have grabbed the series-best accolade.
Javed Omar and Tamim Iqbal have won the award jointly with England’s Marcus Trescothick and Steven Finn respectively. Sakib al Hasan has achieved it twice. Enamul Haque Jr and Robiul Islam are the other cricketers to have won the honour.
The soft-spoken Mominul did not say anything out of the box when asked about his feelings on winning the man-of-the-series award, even going on to imply that he needed to improve that will no doubt stand the middle order batsman in good stead in the future.
‘I have played according to my plans so far and will continue to do so. Not thinking about anything else really. I have enjoyed a lot and I have also learnt a lot. Having said that, I will try to improve,’ said Mominul.
‘I am trying to improve with each passing day. I have tried to enjoy myself, maybe that’s why I have been successful and I will try to keep it going,’ he added.
Even opposition captain Brendon McCullum spoke in glowing terms about the left-handed batsman who has made a memorable start to his career.
‘[Mominul] has a nice demeanour at the crease. He’s very quiet and unassuming, goes about compiling runs.’
Quiet or unassuming, the Bangladeshi fans won’t mind as long as Mominul keeps on piling the runs in his ever modest and laidback approach.
-With New Age input
