Mahmudul makes use of opportunity

Mahmudul Hasan Joy, the young Bangladeshi batter, is making his opportunity count in the ongoing edition of the Bangladesh Premier League as he hit a crucial fifty on Friday for Khulna Tigers, earning him the player of the match award.

Mahmudul scored 59 off 44 balls, hitting five fours and a six, ending on a healthy strike rate of 134.09. His innings set the foundation for Khulna, which was then utilised by Azam Khan and skipper Yasir Ali Chowdhury to chase down 158.

After the match, upon picking up his award, Mahmudul said he believed he could score big if he got in.

“I needed some runs since I didn’t play well the last 5-6 months. The wicket was pretty good, I was trying to keep it simple. I knew if I get set, I can score big. Tamim bhai said to stay on the wicket and punish the bad balls,” he said.

Mahmudul, who stormed into the Bangladesh Test team, with a fifty in the historic Test win against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui last year and then a brilliant century against the Proteas in South Africa, had almost cemented his place in the national team as an opener.

But as he mentioned, his form was not doing him any help in the last half a year or so as in his last 12 innings before this BPL, he scored only one fifty, and went past 30 only three times. That led to him not finding a place for himself in the Bangladesh XI in their Test series against India.

That poor run of form led to him not being picked initially by Khulna in their XI as he had sat on the bench in their first three matches.

He finally got his opportunity against Rangpur Riders on Tuesday, where he played an unbeaten steady knock of 38 off 42 balls but seemed jittery and stagnating.

But on Friday, he was much more in flow as he managed to score runs with ease, picking up his fifty off 35 balls and then went on to score 59.