With just one ball remaining in the innings, Mahmudullah needed 3 runs for his fifth career ODI century. On the last ball of the innings, bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai, Mahmudullah, looking for a boundary, pulled a shot towards square leg. It was expected, and he did just that. But due to a mis-timed shot, he had to sprint for two runs and was run out. His century hopes were dashed, and he was stranded on 98 runs. His innings of 98 runs off 98 balls, including 7 fours and 3 sixes, maintained a strike rate of 100. Despite losing 4 wickets for just 72 runs, Bangladesh finished with 244/8.
Mahmudullah’s wait for another ODI century continues. All four of his previous ODI centuries came in ICC tournaments. After two centuries in the 2015 World Cup, he scored his third in the 2017 Champions Trophy. His most recent century came in the 2019 World Cup against South Africa in Mumbai. Had he reached three figures today, it would have been his first ODI century in a bilateral series.
Though he missed the century, this 98-run innings served as a lifeline for Mahmudullah, a message of overcoming bad times. His performance in the recent T20 series in India, where he bid farewell to the shorter format, was disappointing. His scores in that series were 1, 41, and 8. In the ongoing ODI series against Afghanistan, he had scores of 2 and 3 in the first two matches, and his fielding was also under scrutiny.
After five consecutive failures in white-ball cricket, questions were raised about whether the 38-year-old Mahmudullah would make it to the next Champions Trophy. With these thoughts in mind, Mahmudullah came to the crease in the 15th over after the dismissal of Tawhid Hridoy, with Bangladesh’s score at 72. He faced a tough middle overs period, but he found support in Mehedi Hasan Miraz. Together, they put on a 145-run partnership, with Miraz playing a steady role, maintaining a strike rate of around 50-60 throughout his innings.
At the other end, Mahmudullah kept the tempo going. Despite a back injury early in the innings and a foot problem later on, he kept running hard between the wickets, accumulating 52 of his 98 runs through singles and twos. Though he didn’t reach a century, this innings was one Mahmudullah will surely remember.
