Shadman Islam’s wry smile said it all.
About an hour ago, he had to leave the field, unbeaten on 96. There were still 20 overs left on the opening day of the first Test between Bangladesh and West Indies, but the umpires had deemed the light insufficient for fast bowling, and the West Indian skipper was adamant about using one of his pacemen. Hence, the play got halted.
The sky also started playing tricks with Shadman, as one side was bright and sunny while the other looked dark and gloomy.
After a while, Shadman waited inside the home dressing room, while on the other side of its glass partition, the umpires went to the middle for two light inspections.
A bad light stoppage on the third session of a Test match usually always results in the closure of the day’s play.
Any hope of a resumption seemingly ended when the first inspection was unsuccessful.
The groundmen were in the field, seemingly ready to cover the wicket for the next day’s play. The spectators were contemplating leaving and the players, naturally, must have been thinking what would happen the next day.
But then the second inspection happened, and this time, the umpires liked what they read on the light meter.
The umpires showed a thumbs-up to both dressing rooms and within five minutes or so, Shadman was on strike, starting afresh after a day-long vigil.
Momentum is a big thing in cricket; batters tend to lose it even after a drink’s break. An unexpected break that stretched longer than a lunch interval, and that too when a batter is just four runs away from a milestone, is more than enough to break concentration.
Shadman had to bear all that as he put his front foot forward and drove off-spinner Jomel Warrican’s delivery straight back to him to resume his knock.
He couldn’t get a run in that over, didn’t get the strike in the next. In the third one, he took a couple of singles against pacer Shamar Joseph, and then took a quick single off Warrican in the final ball of the fourth over after the break to reach 99.
Just one more run was needed to end a century-less run that stretched 18 months, to end a lean run with the bat, to stop questions about his place in the side before they start to get too loud.
He was on strike, had seemingly got his concentration back and needed just one more run.
But that ball never arrived. Because for the second time in the session, the umpires deemed the light was insufficient.
All Shadman could do was let out a wry smile and walk along Litton Das, with whom he will restart again on Thursday, hoping to complete the century.
The 31-year-old was clearly the best performer from Bangladesh on the day, as his marathon 219-ball stay helped them navigate tough conditions and end the day on 213-3, happier of the two teams.
Usually, the best performer comes to face the media at the post-day press conference. But Shadman, with the century still left to be completed, chose not to.
Mohammad Salahuddin, the team’s batting consultant for the series, came out instead and said out loud what everyone had been thinking.
“Honestly, we’re all nervous, the whole team. At the end of the day, everyone wanted him to get his hundred, because he has played almost 30 Tests and scored just two centuries. I think that number should have been higher,” Salahuddin said in the post-day press conference.
“I hope that once he gets this one, he’ll understand better what it takes to score a hundred, and I think this innings can help him a lot in the rest of his career,” he added.
Shadman was the standout batter, giving no chances on a pitch that provided sharp turn at times and also variable bounce.
Salahuddin heaped praise on the left-hander.
“I’d say he has assessed the wicket very well. If you look at the whole innings, he hasn’t played many risky shots. Sometimes we play a lot of risky shots, or in certain periods, when a tough time comes, we may play loose shots. But I think he assessed the wicket, got through the difficult period on it, and is still playing the innings in his own control.
“I’m seeing an innings like this from him after a long time, because he has made many 50s and 60s, but they weren’t turning into long innings. So I think he has worked on that, and that is probably why this innings has gone long. I hope he can extend it even further.”
Will that century arrive, only time will tell.