Towhid Hridoy played the innings of his life in Sylhet on Saturday, carrying his bat for an unbeaten 242 as Bangladesh turned a looming first-innings deficit into a 30-run lead over West Indies on the third day of the second Test.
Resuming on 88 for three with Hridoy on 29, Bangladesh’s morning went from bad to worse. Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mehidy Hasan Miraz all fell in the first session, and when the hosts slipped to 184 for seven — still 172 behind West Indies’ 356 — they were effectively eight down, with opener Shadman Islam unable to bat because of an ankle injury.
Hridoy refused to let the innings unravel. He reached his maiden Test century just before lunch, unbeaten on 100 from 171 balls, and then accelerated brutally after the break. He brought up 150 from 235 deliveries and his double century from 304, finishing unbeaten on 242 from 359 balls with 22 fours and 11 sixes.
He found unlikely allies in the lower order. Taijul Islam made 22 in a 117-run eighth-wicket stand that lasted 167 deliveries, and Taskin Ahmed added 12 in an 85-run ninth-wicket partnership. The last three wickets added 202 runs — a new Bangladesh record — before the innings closed at 386 in 111.5 overs, with Shadman unable to bat.
The records tumbled with almost every boundary. Hridoy’s 242 is the highest individual Test score by a Bangladeshi, passing Mushfiqur Rahim’s unbeaten 219 against Zimbabwe in 2018, and he is the first Bangladeshi to convert a maiden Test century into a double century, going past Mominul Haque’s 181 against New Zealand in 2013. His 213 runs in the day beat Shakib Al Hasan’s 212 against New Zealand in 2017, the previous best by a Bangladeshi in a single day’s play, while his 11 sixes set a new national record, passing Tamim Iqbal’s seven against Pakistan in 2015.
He also survived a close lbw review on 138, with the original not-out decision upheld on umpire’s call against Jayden Seales. Jomel Warrican was West Indies’ leading wicket-taker with four for 104, and Seales claimed two wickets, but neither could dislodge the man who had scored only 54 runs in his first four Test innings before this match, his third.
Bangladesh’s lead is only 30, and with two days remaining in Sylhet, West Indies will back themselves to erase it quickly. But after a day that began with the hosts staring at a deficit of more than a hundred, Hridoy has dragged this Test back into the balance — and written his name into Bangladesh’s record books in the process.
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