Towhid Hridoy made a superb comeback to international cricket as he hit a resilient maiden international hundred in Bangladesh鈥檚 Champions Trophy opener against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After having a dismal Afghanistan series and missing the Caribbean tour due to injury, the 24-year-old Hridoy came to the crease when Bangladesh were 26-3 and soon became 35-5鈥攖he lowest score for them to lose at least five wickets against India鈥攊nside the first 10 overs after opting to bat first on a decent batting wicket.
But Hridoy then put on a record sixth wicket partnership of 154 runs with Jaker Ali to hand the bowlers something to fight with as Bangladesh reached 228 runs in 49.4 overs before getting all out.
Their partnership is now the highest for the sixth wicket in the history of the Champions Trophy, having gone past the previous record of 131 runs between South African duo Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp at Mohali in 2006.
This is also the highest sixth-wicket partnership for Bangladesh and the highest against India.
Hridoy scored 100 runs off 118 balls with six fours and two sixes, while Jaker made 68 off 114.
Both batters got early reprieves as Jaker survived on zero and Hridoy got a life when he was on 24. Then they made sure that they would capitalise on the chances they got.
Hridoy was the main architect as he and Jaker built the partnership nicely that spanned 34.1 overs. India captain Rohit Sharma rotated his troops, but they were wicketless in the middle overs.
Both Hridoy and Jaker took time to get in as they reached their fifties in 85 and 87 balls, respectively. Jaker, though, couldn鈥檛 make up that much as he got out trying to slog Mohammad Shami in the 43rd over.
But Hridoy gathered his pace and chose his time of attack almost perfectly. He could鈥檝e had more if he didn鈥檛 get the cramps, which he had to go through for almost half an hour in the final stage of his innings.
He reached his maiden international hundred in 114 balls through a single off Shami in the 49th over and lifted his hands in celebration.
India saw the back of Jaker at the beginning of the death, but Hridoy hung on and held the Bangladesh innings together.
It might not be enough for Bangladesh eventually in the match, but Hridoy certainly showed that his team could bank on his talent, of which he had shown glimpses previously.
Hridoy had seven fifties with a highest score of an unbeaten 96 runs in his first 29 innings in ODIs.
The 30th innings reached the three-figure mark, and the way Hridoy played, he made sure that it couldn鈥檛 be the last time he did so.
