Sylhet, Nov 7 (IANS) Towhid Hridoy etched his name into the history books when he smashed the highest-ever Test knock by a Bangladesh cricketer during the second Test match against the West Indies at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.
Hridoy broke the previous record of 219* that Mushfiqur Rahim had made during the 2018 Mirpur Test against Zimbabwe, as he put up a massive knock against the West Indies to bail Bangladesh out of trouble in the first innings.
Bangladesh were in a hole at 51/3, but Hridoy went on to slam a double hundred on the third day of the contest. He became just the fourth Bangladesh cricketer to have hit a double century in the format.
Hridoy, who was playing in just his third Test match, went on to break Mushfiqur's eight-year-old record. He got there with a four off Jomel Warrican in the 106th over of the innings, which eventually also levelled Bangladesh to West Indies' score of 356 in the first innings.
He remained unbeaten on 242 from 359 balls as he ran out of partners as Bangladesh were bowled out for 386, helping them take a 30-run lead. Shadman Islam, who was stretchered off during the second day due to an ankle twist, did not come out to bat.
He also became the first batter from Bangladesh to convert his maiden hundred into a double century. His 242-run knock came off 359 balls and was laced with 22 fours and 11 sixes.
Apart from him, no other batter went past 50 for Bangladesh, and he almost single-handedly carried the team.
Hridoy came out to bat at No.4 when his team lost both Nayeem Hasan (5) and Tanzid Hasan Tamim (16) and also saw captain Najmul Hossain Shanto (18) fall to leave the hosts at 51/3.
However, Hridoy had a mini-stand of 73 runs for the fourth wicket with Mushfiqur before another strong 117-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Taijul Islam, who made 22. But it was Hridoy who held one end up and went on to smash a record 242 and bring his team out of the hole and put them ahead in the match with still over two days left in the game.
--IANS
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