A long awaited Test series for Bangladesh in Australia after 23 years at the doorstep. But every possible aspect of team Bangladesh is being questioned. The main concern was raised after the batting failure in the practice match, where Bangladeshi batters suffered against Cricket Australia XI.
Even the experienced batter Mominul Haque endured difficulties in both the innings. He scored 16 runs in 59 balls in the first innings. Got bowled on 6 in the second innings. But he was going through a good patch with the bat. Mominul scored one century and 9 half centuries in his recent 24 test innings, across home and away.
Being the second most senior among the group, a great batting responsibility lies on Mominul’s shoulder. He has proved himself throughout the span of his career. He has 13 centuries in test cricket, the second most centuries scored by any Bangladeshi batter after Mushfiqur Rahim.
But in the recent past, he has struggled to score a ton. His last century came against India in Kanpur. He was unbeaten in the first innings and had 109 runs beside his name. After that, he surpassed the 50 runs milestone nine times, and scored above 80 four times, but could not convert those to another century.
“This is one problem for us, we do not convert the fifties to hundreds, or make the hundreds bigger,” former Bangladesh Test opener Javed Omar told TIMES of Bangladesh. “We don’t score 110-120, or 142, or 175, because we lose momentum. Test is the game of momentum, and once it slips away, we don’t dominate anymore. If they start keeping the momentum in their hands, they’ll start scoring hundreds more frequently and making them big,” he further added.
The below par conversion rate of Mominul is a serious concern. It prolongs with his away performances. In his last 12 overseas innings Mominul scored with an average of 29.27. A significant drop off average as compared to his home performance, where he maintained 54.08 average with the bat. That raises serious questions against Mominul Haque.
He is one of the most experienced batters in Bangladesh’s lineup. Being the number 4 batter, he dictates the batting approach. Not only that, he had to rebuild the innings throughout his career, as most of the cases Bangladeshi openers failed to provide a concrete start.
The last time Bangladesh’s openers put on a century partnership away from home was against Sri Lanka in 2017. That shows the inability of tiger openers. That is where Mominul should be on the front line to rescue Bangladesh.
Sadly, he could not be the leader of the batting unit away from home. In his last 12 innings, only three times Mominul managed to surpass the 50 runs mark. On the contrary he has passed the 20 run mark just once in his other nine innings.That struggle continued in Australia.
Although Javed backed Mominul and said, “He is a proven player. But even big players struggle away from home sometimes. It’s going to be a challenge for him. And if Mominul does well, it will be a big achievement for him, and of course, for the team.”
If he fails to do so Bangladesh might face a devastating result in Australia. The one-off practice match is indicating that. Bangladesh weathered a difficult period against Cricket Australia XI. At the end of the second day they lost two wickets on 19 runs while trailing by 92 runs.
