DHAKA, — Mahmudullah Riyad’s penchant to stand tall against adversities was well documented in his brilliant knock which not only gave Bangladesh a total to savour but also proved that he still has the fuel to serve the team in the longer format.
Batting at No.8, Mahmudullah struck his career best 150 not out to help Bangladesh end the first innings on a imposing 468 before being all out and It is the 12th instance of batsman at No.7 or lower scoring 300-plus runs in a Test innings
He shared 191-run with Taskin Ahmed for the ninth wicket, which was highest for Bangladesh in this wicket and also second highest in Test history just behind South Africa’s Mark Boucher and Pat Symcox 195 against Pakistan in 1998.
Mahmudullah was also involved in the previous ninth wicket highest score of Bangladesh with Abul Hasan Raju—184 runs against West Indies in 2012.
After watching his innings from the close range, Ashwell Prince, the Bangladesh batting consultant for the Zimbabwe series got an idea that he is the perfect man for Bangladesh to do the recovery job with the lower order batsman.
“Mahmudullah played a really crucial innings for the team. He was the perfect person for that job at the time,” Prince said after the first day’s game when Mahmudullah ended the day with 54 after lifting Bangladesh to safety along with Liton Das, who scored 95 runs.
“He and Liton Das really complemented one another really nicely. He was watchful, and Liton maneuvered the ball around. At 132-6, it was a big partnership for the team.”
Starting the second day on 294-8, Bangladesh still didn’t know what score would be good enough on this pitch. But Mahmudullah was adamant to make it bigger along with No.10 batsman Taskin Ahmed.
Mahmudullah, playing his 50th Test, brought up his ton with consecutive boundaries off offspinner Roy Kaia—the second one he cracked through to cover-point four for his century off 195 balls.
Immediately next over, Taskin pushed one off pace bowler Richard Ngarava to mid-on for a single to complete his maiden first class half-century off 69 balls. Taskin was finally out on 74 off 134, clobbering 11 boundaries.
This was Mahmudullah’s first Test however in the last two years and he made it memorable hitting his fifth ton. And the century came at the moment when Bangladesh were still struggling to establish their control over Zimbabwe.
Mahmudullah was not considered for the Test format following the Test against Pakistan early in the last year. The manner in which he was dismissed in consecutive 10 innings since his 146 against New Zealand in 2019, looked so odd that no one probably thought he was good enough to play Test cricket. In that 10 innings he had only one half-century.
Especially the way he was dismissed against Pakistan to give teenage fast bowler Nasim Shah the hattrick was extremely ridiculous. The fans also vented their anger by trolling him in social media outlets.
His performance in the longer format basically led to his exclusion from the red ball contract of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).
He was not initially included in the Test squad for the Zimbabwe series but the injury concerns of two senior players Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim forced the team management to include him as back up. He still couldn’t be in the first XI of the Test had Tamim not ruled out due to his knee injury.
But as he got the chance he made it count in a way that the team management now would have to think twice to axe him from the Test squad.
