Bangladesh’s batter Mominul Haque celebrates his century during the fourth day of the 2nd Test cricket match between India and Bangladesh, at the Green Park stadium, Kanpur, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (PTI Photo)
Over the years, Mominul Haque has built a reputation for himself. Despite sharing a dressing room with Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, he is known as the team’s crisis man. Whenever Bangladesh’s batting collapses, be it at home or away, the team looks at Mominul to bail them out. Against India at Kanpur, amidst the mayhem around him, Mominul showed positive intent to keep the scoreboard ticking and completed his 13th Test century. With light fading, he had to come out to bat for the second time in the day as Bangladesh lost two early wickets in the second innings after an aggressive India took a 53-run first-innings lead.
Mominul was promoted to No 3, when Bumrah and Akash Deep were making the most of the overcast conditions in Kanpur. He took 15 balls to open his account. But once he was off he showed why he is Bangladesh’s Man Friday. Bangladesh started the day at 107/3 on Monday after wet outfield prevented any play on the weekend. There wasn’t as much carry off the pitch but the movement meant that Bangladesh’s batsmen had to be on their toes. Mominul showed remarkable composure in his shot selection and judgement of his off stump. This time he took 14 deliveries to get off the mark.
While other Bangladesh batters already looked in T20 mode, Mominul played the waiting game and never let any scoring opportunity slip by. Rohit Sharma mobbed him with an aggressive field with three slips, a gully, flying slip, short leg, square leg and deep square leg. The idea was to target his body but Mominul dug deep. He had developed an upper cut in Pakistan, when Naseem Shah bombarded him with the short stuff. In Kanpur, against Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj, he controlled his instincts and did one better. He neutralised the ploy with a couple of well-controlled pull shots.
A century to celebrate and remember! 💯🔥
PC: BCCI#BCB #Cricket #INDvBAN #WTC25 pic.twitter.com/2UNFXOEJ1x
— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) September 30, 2024
Playing spin is Mominul’s strength. During his 194-ball stay, he swept 23 times. Adept at using his feet, he looked at absolute ease against Jadeja and Ashwin. Sure, he was beaten on occasions, especially by Bumrah in his second spell of the day, but he found a way to survive. Whenever the opportunity came his way, he cut, drove, pulled, and took the aerial route to reach his 13th Test ton with his favourite sweep shot off R Ashwin. He did get a reprieve in the penultimate over of the opening session when he was on 95 as Virat Kohli dropped him at the first slip. Kohli jumped to his left and got his hand to the ball but couldn’t hold on. Numbers tell a story: While Mominul remained unbeaten on 107, the next best score was 31 by the captain Najmul Shanto.
India wrapped up Bangladesh’s first innings soon after lunch bundling them out for 233, after they had added 126 runs to their overnight total.
Mominul, who turned 33 on Sunday, might not have the aura of a Shakib or a Tamim but is seen as someone who brought a positive change in Bangladesh cricket. It was under his captaincy Bangladesh registered a historic Test win in New Zealand And it was also under Mominul’s captaincy that Bangladesh made a massive shift towards the pace bowling revolution. For Mominul the eye-opening series was against India in 2019, when they were left bruised by the Indian pacers. In his captain’s report, Mominul had proposed to the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) that they should play with the duke balls in domestic cricket and the pitches must have 6 mm grass to help the seamers and to keep batters on the toes.
Former Bangladesh opener Tamil Iqbal on air has showered praise on Mominul’s contribution to Bangladesh cricket and on Monday had also requested the BCB to take “special care” of the middle-order batter.
“It was Mominul, who first told the BCB that to compete in away games, we need to invest on fast bowlers. BCB should also take care of Mominul. Because he is someone who only plays one format, and hardly gets picked by the franchise of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). It gets difficult for someone like him to train alone and wait for the Test series. Bangladesh unlike India or other top countries doesn’t play that many Test matches. He is a rarity in Bangladesh cricket,” Tamim said.
With the light fading and Bangladesh losing a couple of early wickets in their second innings, Mominul walked out to bat again for the second time in the day. He survived a close call first up against Ashwin but hung on till the end. Bangladesh still trail by 26 runs and a lot will depend on Bangladesh’s crisis man whether they can keep India at bay on the final day of the Test series.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Pratyush Raj is a sports journalist with The Indian Express Group and specializes in breaking news stories and conducting in-depth investigative reports for the paper. His passion extends to crafting engaging content for the newspaper’s website. Pratyush takes a keen interest in writing on cricket and hockey. He started his career with the financial daily Business Standard but soon followed his true calling as Times of India’s sports reporter for Punjab in Chandigarh, a job that required extensive travel to states such as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. He has also contributed to the sports coverage of India Today Group. Pratyush’s love for sports blossomed during his upbringing in flood-prone Saharsa, a district in North Bihar, where ‘Cricket Samrat’ was his cherished companion. … Read More
First uploaded on: 30-09-2024 at 18:07 IST
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