It came as a surprise to the selector Habibul Bashar to find that Afif Hossain’s unbeaten 111 at Fatullah yesterday was the batter’s first-ever List A ton, ending a six-year wait since the batter made his List A debut in 2017. Afif Hossain made his List A debut in 2017.
The left-handed Afif stepped out to bat in the 16th inning at number four, which is the position that most suits his batting style. Afif scored 111 off of 101 balls, hitting six fours and five sixes on his way to the milestone.
The fact that he scored 446 runs in the DPL at an average of 55.75 and a strike-rate of 114.95 undoubtedly boosts his prospects of getting back into the national squad, and Bashar believed that batting higher in the order was what made the difference.
“Given the fact that he is the kind of player that he is, he ought to have more centuries. But I get the impression that he is hitting the ball where he wants to. The reason he did not score any century was because he batted sixth or seventh in the order. Today, he batted at number four, and it was one of the most experienced knocks I’ve seen him produce in a long time. “He played one bad shot, but otherwise it was all good and knew what areas to target against which bowlers,” Bashar said yesterday to The Daily Star. “He knew what areas to target against which bowlers.”
Chandika Hathurusingha, the head coach of the national team, indicated that Afif’s performances were a factor in the decision to dismiss him.
“He had a conversation with the coach, perhaps even about some technical matters. From what I can see throughout this DPL, things appear to be going well for him in terms of confronting pace and spin as well as the strike rate he is scoring at. He is doing an acceptable job overall.
When he had his previous turn at bat, there were not many overs left, and the necessity was to go out and hit from the very beginning. Even though he played cricket at a younger age, people still thought of him as a powerful batter, so they had him bat lower in the order. He is the type of player who, when given the chance, is capable of scoring several runs. And he has a significant amount of first-class baggage as well,” he continued.
The presumption that Afif did not want to bat further down the order is incorrect. However, the positions six and seven are not for true hitters; they are reserved for all-rounders. He have the potential to be a powerful hitter. Batters want to bat higher in the order, and it’s not like he didn’t want to bat lower,” he continued. “It’s just that everybody else wants to bat higher.”
Most crucially, Afif is not completely out of the picture with regard to planning for the World Cup. Will his batting average drop if he gets back into the national set-up?
“First things first, the most crucial question is whether or not he will be able to rejoin the squad. If he comes back into the game, where he bats probably won’t make much of a difference, in my opinion. The prerequisites for the team are the focus here. It was anticipated that he would score runs and choose himself for selection. “I can’t say for sure whether he will come back, but the fact that he is scoring runs is very important,” Bashar said in conclusion.
Abahani was able to reach 285 for five thanks to Afif’s century, while Prime Bank was only able to score 243 runs after being bowled out by Khushdil Shah, who took six wickets and gave his team a victory by 42 runs.
In other news, Chirag Jani was once again the hero for Legends of Rupganj in a four-wicket triumph over Gazi Group. He scored 81 runs off 73 balls to help Legends of Rupganj chase down Gazi’s total of 265 for nine. Shinepukur Cricket Club defeated Dhaka Leopards in their relegation league encounter by five wickets, which also took place at BKSP. Meanwhile, Sheikh Jamal maintained their lead atop the standings with an 85-run victory against Mohammedan at BKSP.