Mominul’s away century hoodoo ends at last

At last the much awaited away century came for Mominul Haque.

It took the Bangladesh Test captain 17 Tests and 33 innings to score his first away Test hundred.

Mominul, undoubtedly one of the finest Test batsmen in our country, had scored 10 Test centuries in his career prior to the ongoing Sri Lanka Test at Pallekelle.

But he was holding an unwanted record for a long time and that was, all of Mominul’s 10 Test tons had come on home soil.

Before the Pallekelle Test, Mominul had played 42 Test matches after his debut at Galle against Sri Lanka back in 2013.

Among those 42 Tests, Mominul has played 25 of them at home, hitting 10 centuries and seven fifties with an eye-catching average of 56.39.

But surprisingly, his record in away Tests was below average considering his batting class as he scored only 736 runs in 33 innings, and 17 Tests, with only six fifties and no century (before the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka).

It looked like he was a completely different batsman compared to his superb record at home.

But that grief has ended now as, after scoring 10 Test centuries, the 11th came in an away series.

More importantly, this century also came at a crucial time.

The team were under pressure as Bangladesh’s record in Tests has hit a low point in the last few years.

In the past few years Bangladesh have lost Tests at home against Zimbabwe, at home against Afghanistan, lost both the away Tests against India with a humiliating innings defeat, lost to Pakistan away with an innings defeat and recently lost and got whitewashed against a second-string West Indies team on home soil.

And the defeats against India, Pakistan and the West Indies came under Mominul’s captaincy.

So the whole team were under pressure.

Captain Mominul was under pressure as well, and obviously batsman Mominul was also under the cosh due to his ordinary average away from home.

But Thursday's gritty century will give Mominul good confidence in future as the skipper played a determined 127-run innings exhibiting good temperament and technique.

The 304-ball innings was composed with 11 boundaries.

So the shackle of no Test centuries in away condition has been broken by Mominul now.

The Test skipper, the highest Test centurion of Bangladesh, can obviously hope to score many more away Test tons from now on in his career in near future, which Bangladesh cricket also needs as the left-hander is an integral part of the Tigers' Test lineup.