PBA DESK : Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal ended his overseas century draught with a breathtaking 128 ball-126 against New Zealand in the recently concluded first Test against New Zealand at Hamilton. He followed it up with another blistering 74 runs knock in the second innings and those two knocks reminded Tamim of his old, when he was used to terrorize any kind of bowling line up.
His attacking batting at the top of the order prompted many to compare him with Indian former opener Virender Sehwag who was known for his ability to cut through any bowling line in disdain.
Tamim’s ninth Test century however was his first overseas century since the Old Trafford heroics during his career-defining England tour in 2010. In that tour he stood tall amid Bangladesh’s batting debacle to hit two consecutive centuries in Lord’s and Old Trafford, both of which came at a strike rate of 100.
The Lord’s century achieved from 94 balls, that made him the fastest Test centurion of the country solely until Soumya Sarkar shared the feat with another 94 ball-100 during his 149 runs knock against New Zealand in the first Test. In all the Hamilton Test century is Tamim’s fourth century in foreign condition.
Dubbed as the most attacking batsman of the country has ever seen during the beginning of his career, Tamim Iqbal however couldn’t keep up the attacking instinct like Sehwag during the most part of his career.
After those two centuries in Lord’s and Old Trafford against ominous swing of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, Tamim tasted a poor run of form that forced him to curb his aggression and concentrate on keeping his wicket for the sake of the team.
And that slow batting in Test cricket also affected his ODI batting mode that resulted a lower strike rate, which sometimes didn’t match with the style of modern cricket. He was criticized for his slow batting even though he became more consistent than any other time in his career.
In those periods his Test and ODI batting average was comfortably over 50 but the slowness with which he scored those runs were sometimes not a treat to watch. He also increased the range of shots to make him technically better than any other player of the country.
According to former national captain Gazi Ashraf Hossain, Tamim now is reaping the rewards of his hard work in those tough periods and that’s the reason that everybody now sees the actual prowess of Tamim.
He said Tamim now enjoy his batting more than any other time in his career.
“Change of his batting style was prominent during the last BPL when he looked more aggressive than any other time,” Ashraf said.
“This was because he is now more confident about him and he has many shots at his hands.”
According to Ashraf, Tamim and other batsmen didn’t get good wicket to show their natural instinct at the home venue for the large part of their career.
“Our batsmen naturally love to play stroke. In New Zealand condition they got true bounce and when they adjusted with the bounce after staying here for some times, they started playing well,” he said.
“But at home condition, they did get wicket where bounce was variable. So they were habituated to play this kind of wicket which made an adverse impact on them when they went to play in overseas condition.”
PBA/zizi
