Towhid Hridoy on scoring his maiden ton against India and how he played the situation after losing 5 wickets.
Towhid Hridoy admits that he had to fight and grind for runs during his stay in the middle en route to his maiden ODI ton.
In their Champions Trophy opening match against India in Dubai, Bangladesh opted to bat and finished at 35 for 5 in nine overs; if Rohit Sharma hadn’t lost a dolly off Jaker Ali from Axar Patel’s hat-trick delivery in the ninth over, the score may have been 35 for 6. Towhid Hridoy, who led the way with 100 off 118 balls and shared an outstanding sixth-wicket partnership of 154 with Jaker, stated that he “had to fight and find a way” to get the innings to a competitive level.
“We were clear what we wanted to do if we won the toss. We wanted to bat. Yes, we lost some early wickets, which set us back. But despite that, the way we came back, Jaker and I, if one of us had done a bit more, we might have got to 260-270,” Hridoy said at the press interaction afterwards. “The match scenario would have been different then. We scored 30-40 runs too few. If you see, they took 46.3 overs to finish the chase, so it wasn’t easy.
“The pitch was tricky. Look at their innings, they were not too comfortable either. But that’s not in our hands. Conditions are different everywhere – we have to play on the pitch we get. This is not an excuse. I am just saying that the pitch was tricky to bat on.”
With Bangladesh at 26 for 3, having lost wickets to Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana, Hridoy had walked out at No. 5. After that, Axar took over and sent Mushfiqur Rahim and Tanzid Hasan off on consecutive deliveries.
Although it wasn’t ideal, Jaker’s sluggish but steady development was necessary because Bangladesh couldn’t afford to lose any more wickets at that point. Nevertheless, it appeared that the pitch had softened and that batting was relatively simple.
“It might have looked easy, but it wasn’t, since we had lost five wickets,” Hridoy said. “We talked a lot with each other and to ourselves. We had to fight and find a way. I played a lot of dot balls at the start, but I felt I would be able to catch up. But my cramps set me back. If such a situation crops up again, I might do even better. I hope we don’t make the same mistakes again.
“I think my cramps hampered our innings. I might have been able to score 20-30 runs more if I hadn’t cramped up.”
Few would have given Bangladesh a chance against a formidable India batting lineup with only 228 to spare, but they held firm despite a shaky start with the ball (India scored 68 for 1 in the first ten versus Bangladesh’s 39 for 5). Although Bangladesh was constantly behind, the chase did become a little more difficult, with Shubman Gill’s 101 not out ultimately making the difference.
“I did think we could fight with the runs we had. We bowled well and fought well. We gave away a few boundaries at the start, which didn’t help, but we fought back well,” Hridoy said. “If we had taken a couple more wickets at the start, the scenario could have been different.”