Classy Mominul drives Bangladesh to safety amid middle-order collapse
||CF Correspondent||
Mominul Haque equaled a Bangladesh record by posting his eighth Test century and also matched Virat Kohli's feat of most Test hundreds by a batsman in 2018 as he propelled the hosts to 315-8 on the opening day of the first Test against West Indies.
He hit 120 off 167, featuring with 10 fours and one six, his sixth century at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in just eight test matches, before the lower order batsmen showed grit to help the side go past 300.
Taijul Islam was batting on 32 with debutant Nayeem Hasan on 24, after sharing 56 in an unbroken ninth wicket stand.
Fast bowler Shannon Gabriel claimed 4-69, triggering a middle collapse as he took all of the four wickets in 18 balls after tea session, leaving the hosts from 222-3 to 235-7.
Left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican had figures of 2-62.
But before that Mominul Haque stood firm in setting a good platform for Bangladesh.
Mominul went to the crease in the first over of the day after the dismissal of Soumya Sarkar, whose first Test innings in a year lasted just two deliveries.
He then shared a 104-run second-wicket stand with Imrul Kayes, who contributed 44 before he was dismissed on the stroke of lunch, tapping a turning delivery off left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican to short-leg.
Kayes had some early reprieves, when Roston Chase dropped a catch at second slip off Kemar Roach's bowling when he was on three and again on 16, when he holed out to deep square leg but Warrican was ruled to have no-balled.
Mominul, adorably touted as ‘pocket dynamo’ shared two significant partnerships—48-run with Mohammad Mithun and 69-run with skipper Shakib Al Hasan (34) to rally the side and helped the side cross 200 against West Indies for the first time in four years.
The West Indies had a chance to remove Haque on 67, but wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich wasn't able to hold a catch off leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo's bowling.
Bishoo extracted a considerable amount of turn and bounce off the pitch to trouble the Bangladesh batsmen and rewarded with the wicket of Mohammad Mithun (20).
Haque’s dominance kept the Caribbean side at bay and he equaled Tamim Iqbal's record eight test hundreds along the way by slashing Roston Chase past point for a boundary.
It was the continuation of his good form having struck 161 against Zimbabwe in just his previous Test.
The diminutive left-hander also hit peaks reached by only Virat Kohli this year, matching Kohli’s feat of four Test tons in 2018. While Kohli did it in 18 innings, Mominul took 13 innings to get there. No other batsmen have scored more than two Test tons this year.
But as the elusive Test double seemed to be on the card, he perished to a loose shot just after tea off a Gabriel’s full length delivery outside the off stump.
His dismissal sparked a collapse as Gabriel removed Mushfiqur Rahim (4), Mahmudullah (3) and Shakib to raise the hope of wrapping up Bangladesh’s innings.
However the lower order resisted to dash the hopes.
