Veteran Bangladesh batter Mushfiqur Rahim put up a stellar batting display to resurrect his team’s innings in the ongoing first of the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, which started today (June 17) in Galle.
The Bangla Tigers were reeling at 45 for 3 when Mushfiqur along with team skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto scripted a mammoth 247-run partnership to rebuild the innings.
In the process, Mushfiqur also notched up his 12th Test hundred which came after a long wait of 13 innings, his first since August last year. His highest score in this period was a 40 against Zimbabwe earlier this year in April.
Interestingly, Mushfiqur revealed that he took inspiration from a match 12 years ago at the same venue when he got Bangladesh’s first double-hundred in Tests, to produce his recent batting masterclass.
Speaking after Day 1’s play, Mushfiqur Rahim said, “I have seen how some other Tests here had a lot of purchase for spinners. We knew that one of us out of the seven batters had to capitalise on the first two days in Galle. If I am not wrong, myself and [Mohammad] Ashraful bhai batted the whole day here in 2013. It was my plan this time too; I was telling Shanto that we need to bat the whole day.”
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Speaking about the SL vs BAN 1st Test, the visitors put up 292 for 3 at Stumps Day 1, courtesy of the Rahim-Shanto fourth-wicket stand. Rahim remained unbeaten on 105* while Najmul Shanto ended the opening day on 136*.
Earlier, Lankan ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Rathnayake claimed two scalps while seamer Asitha Fernando got one.
This series marks the starts of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle 2025-27 and both teams will be hoping to get off to a positive start.
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