Towhid Hridoy’s unbeaten 242 against West Indies in Sylhet on Saturday, rewrote several chapters of Bangladesh’s Test batting history.
A single off Joshua Bishop took him to 219, level with Mushfiqur Rahim’s unbeaten 219 against Zimbabwe in 2018. A pulled four off Jomel Warrican then moved him to 223, past Shakib Al Hasan’s 217 and Tamim Iqbal’s 206. He finished on 242, 23 clear of Mushfiqur.
A single to long-on off Warrican brought up 200, with Taskin Ahmed at the other end. Only Mushfiqur, who has three, Shakib and Tamim had reached the mark before him. It came in the same innings as his maiden Test hundred, scored just before lunch.
Starting the day on 29 and finishing on 242, he made 213 runs in the day. That beats Shakib’s 212 against New Zealand in 2017, the previous best. Mominul Haque’s 175, Mushfiqur’s 171 and Mahmudul Hasan Joy’s 169 now sit behind him.
His eighth six, thumped over deep midwicket off Bishop, took him past the previous Bangladeshi best for an innings. He kept going, and the 11th came off Roston Chase when he launched a delivery over the bowler’s head. His 242 also included 22 fours off 359 balls.
He passed the ground’s previous best innings when he reached 172 on the third afternoon, and kept extending it from there. West Indies’ Amir Jangoo had made 133 earlier in the match, which had been the highest score of the Test until Hridoy overtook him.
The mark fell when he reached 154 shortly after tea. By then the innings was already the biggest by a Bangladeshi in this fixture, and he still had almost 90 runs to add. He survived a painful blow to the ribs from Jayden Seales on the way.
Hridoy and Taijul added 117 for the eighth wicket before Warrican stumped Taijul for 22 with his foot on the line. It is Bangladesh’s second-highest eighth-wicket stand in Tests, behind the 144 by Mushfiqur and Mehidy Hasan Miraz against Zimbabwe in 2018, and only their third century stand for that wicket.
Hridoy’s unbeaten 242 made up 62.69 per cent of Bangladesh’s 386, the biggest share any Bangladeshi has contributed to a completed Test innings. The previous best belonged to Litton Das, whose 25 in a total of 43 against West Indies in 2018 amounted to 58.13 per cent.
After the seventh wicket fell at 184, Bangladesh added another 202 runs before the innings closed at 386, with Sadman Islam’s absence counted as the tenth wicket. It is their highest for the last three wickets in Tests, beating the 198 against Zimbabwe in 2021.