‘It’s great to back to runs again’, Mominul after ending Test ton drought
Mominul Haque, Cricfrenzy
|| CF CORRSPONDENT ||
PSL 2025 to kick off on April 11, Rishad to feature on opening day
19 hrs ago![Nahid Rana [R], Litton Das [M], Rishad Hossain, Cricfrenzy](https://cricfrenzy.com/public/storage/images/2-2025/b63Kb1P37XIa8965QN348as6.jpg)
Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque broke his long century drought in the second innings of the Mirpur Test against Afghanistan. After 26 months and 26 innings in red ball game, he was unbeaten on 121 runs on his 12th century when the innings was declared.
Back to back centuries from Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul’s ton gave the hosts a third-straight day of dominance in their one-off Test.
Bangladesh declared their second innings at 425-4 an hour into the third session in Dhaka and could earn the distinction of cricket's second-largest Test victory margin when play resumes. Afghanistan lost two quick wickets Friday, trailing Bangladesh by 616 runs at stumps.
Bangladesh middle order batter Mominul felt relieved after scoring a century, which escaped him for the last two years and made him distraught as his place in the team was questioned repeatedly.
"There was regret that I couldn't play big knock, which was my habit. I missed batting three or four sessions. Yes it is great to back to runs again and it was helpful for the side," Mominul said in the post day press conference.
'I think long gap should be a concern. But you can't judge a player when he plays Test cricket after a long time and fail to score a big knock,"
"On the one hand it's a positive thing for me, I can prepare myself and have a long time to prepare. What you are saying, I am not taking it as negative. In fact I have done my mind setup like that. You have seen it once before that I got a chance to play International cricket when there was one year gap in our Test schedule" he added.
Prior to the Covid-19 epidemic, Mominul was appointed Test captain in Shakib Al Hasan's absence. However, after a rough spell in which he only managed to make one half-century in 18 innings, Mominul lost his position as captain.
After that, he even lost his spot in the Test team, but he made a comeback by scoring 84 runs against India last year.
The southpaw compared his mental state with that of Shanto, who went through immense criticism early in his career.
"I have faced it myself. It's terrible. Those who went through this know. I felt like the whole world is at one side and I am at the other side. Only those who face it know. You can only maintain your process and the rest is up to the Almighty if he allows you to score runs. Shanto maintained his process. Though I don't know what he worked on psychology-wise, he was confident," said Mominul.
The former skipper encouraged Shanto, who has recently been reliable in all formats, to keep up his good form and lauded his batting strategy.
''It seems batting is so easy while watching Shanto's innings and even I feel like batting like him but it's difficult for me. Both Shanto and Liton make batting look so easy. Shanto has the ability to dispatch those bad deliveries for a boundary and the way he batted in such heat was a huge achievement for him to score two hundreds,'' added Mominul.
