'Learned a lot from this ton'
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I have learned a lot from this century and it is one of my most interesting hundreds as I had to work really hard on my innings. It was the toughest of all my hundreds. Bangladesh Batsman Mominul Haque
After striking four Test tons in his first 22 innings, Mominul Haque had to wait 23 innings to register his fifth Test hundred and he quickly notched a sixth as he smashed twin tons in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Chattogram earlier this year.
Although just eight innings elapsed before he brought up his seventh against Zimbabwe yesterday, his brilliant 161 off 247 balls would perhaps have engendered the biggest sigh of relief as it came on the back of a troubling lean patch.
His strike rate may suggest that it was a dominant effort but he survived a difficult start and, as he said later, he had to learn and adapt along the way.
“I have learned a lot from this century and it is one of the most interesting hundreds among all as I had to work really hard on my innings. It was the toughest of all my hundreds,” Mominul told reporters during the post-day press conference at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
There have been three specific ways that Mominul has gotten out in recent times -- his tendency to push away from his body with an angled bat has resulted in edges to the cordon or inside edges onto the stumps; he has gone hard against the spinners in anticipation of the turn to fall to soft dismissals and he has been closing the face of the bat early, which has caused problems for the left-hander.
Even after the innings that saved Bangladesh from 26 for three, questions were raised about his technique, but Mominul countered that he did not want to make things complicated and just focus on the mental aspect.
“I try not to make things complicated as cricket is such a game where things gets tougher if you make it more complicated. I only tried to watch the ball and play, nothing else. On such a platform you have to be mentally strong as you will hear a lot of negative things if you don't do well,” Mominul said.
When Mominul walked into the ground after Bangladesh lost an early wicket yet again, all eyes were on the left-hander to see how he started the innings. One of the recent failings of the Bangladesh Test specialist has been going for too many shots early on.
One could easily imagine that a few butterflies fluttered in his stomach when, facing his first ball, he was beaten by a Kyle Jarvis delivery outside off stump as the diminutive batsman pushed away from his body.
That tendency to play away from his body almost cost him early in the innings when, on nine, he went for a slash off Tendai Chatara and Brian Chari dropped a tough chance at point. A picture perfect cover drive off Chatara in the 21st over suggested that he had started to rediscover some of the old touch, but he was again dropped by the keeper on 25 off Sikandar Raza.
The 27-year-old reached his fifty with a cut off Sean Williams off his 92nd and did not even celebrate. The left-hander also gave credit to the experience of Mushfiqur Rahim who provided the much needed assurance from the other end in a 266-run fourth-wicket stand.
“Mushfiqur bhai has helped me a lot and guided me very well. Today [Sunday] I realised why he is one of the top five cricketers in the country. It really touched me and some of his advice has helped my batting,” he said.
All of a sudden, Mominul's shaky feet movement against the spinners vanished and he leaned forward for his drives or defences and made sure he rolled his wrist over the ball when nudging singles rather than pushing in front of his body.
It took just 58 more deliveries to bring up his next fifty as Mominul registered his third hundred of the year with a flick off a Raza full toss. A jubilant Mominul first ran towards the dressing room with a pumped-up expression, showing how important the hundred was, before giving an overjoyed Mushfiqur a tight hug.
Mominul went on to reach his 150 off 239 balls. His flawed yet valuable innings eventually came to an end with an uppish drive off Chatara that was caught at point in the last hour. He walked off disappointed, but also richer for the knowledge he rediscovered about toughing it out to play big innings.
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