The classy Mominul Haque hit his eighth Test hundred during the first Test against West Indies to not only equal Tamim Iqbal with most number of Test hundreds for Bangladesh but also matched Virat Kohli’s feat of most Test hundreds by a batsman in 2018.
It was Mominul’s sixth Test hundred in Chattogram and he continued his good form having struck 161 against Zimbabwe in the recently concluded second Test. The diminutive left-hander also hit peaks reached by only Virat Kohli this year, matching Kohli’s feat of four Test tons in 2018. While Kohli did it in 18 innings, Mominul took 13 innings to get there. No other batsmen have scored more than two Test tons this year.
He slashed Roston Chase past point for a boundary to bring up his hundred was another reminder of the authority he portrayed in this Test match since early morning after he came in to the crease after just the third delivery of the day following Soumya Sarkar’s wicket. Not only did he lead Bangladesh’s recovery with Imrul at the other end but he scored his runs quickly, his 137-ball 103 not out laced with 10 fours and a six.
Kohli scored 1063 runs in 18 innings this year at an average of 59.05. Mominul has so far scored 628 runs this year in his 13th innings which is still ongoing. The left-hander has a healthy average of 52.33. He scored tons in both innings with scores of 176 and 105 in the drawn Test at Chattogram against Sri Lanka in January before he had struck his third ton in the match against Zimbabwe.