Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque achieved a rare record thanks to his fighting century against India in the ongoing second and final Test of the series. This Test is being played in Kanpur’s Green Park stadium and two and a half days were lost to rain and wet outfield.
India captain Rohit Sharma had won the toss on day one on September 27 and was chosen to field first. Bangladesh made two changes to its playing XI, bringing in Taijul Islam and Khaled Ahmed for Nahid Rana and Taskin Ahmed.
Bangladesh had done well on day one, finishing on 107/3 with Mominul Haque remaining unbeaten on 40. There was no play possible on day 2 and day 3 due to rain and then a wet outfield. The game then resumed on day 4 under bright sun and dry ground.
Mominul was batting on 40 before the first ball was bowled on Day 4 after two days were rained off. Mominul reached his half-century in 110 balls after Rahim was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah.
While Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan fell cheaply, Mominul surged and frequently encountered barriers. In the final over of the session, he swept Ravichandran Ashwin for four to get his century in 172 balls.
Mominul Haque breaks Ricky Ponting’s 12-year-old record with his brilliant century
Mominul Haque, Bangladesh’s top-order batsman, stayed firm when wickets dropped at the other end of the opening session on Day 4 of the second Test at Green Park in Kanpur. Haque became the first Bangladeshi batsman at number three to hit a Test century against India.
Mominul has been the first visiting hitter to score a Test century at Kanpur’s Green Park since 2004. South Africa’s Andrew Hall scored the previous century. The Proteas batter scored 163 runs in the drawn Test.
The left-handed batsman also broke former Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s mark in India. Mominul has the lowest batting average for a visiting batsman on Indian soil before reaching his first century (five or more innings).
Haque had scored 96 runs over eight innings. The previous record belonged to Ponting, who amassed 172 runs in 14 innings before recording his first Test century on Indian soil.
Mominul is the second Bangladeshi batsman to record a Test century on Indian soil. Mushfiqur Rahim, his teammate, scored the first, with 127 in Hyderabad in 2017. The 33-year-old is also the sixth Bangladeshi batsman to reach a Test century against India.
Apart from Rahim, the remaining four are Mohammad Ashraful (158 not out), Tamim Iqbal (151), Aminul Islam (145), and Zakir Hasan (100). Rahim is the only Bangladeshi batsman to have scored two Test centuries against India.
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