Mominul's boundaries, and Mushfiqur's landmark

Stats highlights from Mominul Haque's 181, and Bangladesh's strong batting performance on the third day in Chittagong

11-Oct-2013

Mominul Haque drives during his century, Bangladesh v New Zealand, 1st Test, Chittagong, 3rd day, October 11, 2013

Mominul Haque's 181 is the third-highest score by a Bangladesh batsman, next to Mushfiqur Rahim's 200 and Mohammad Ashraful's 190, both of which came in the same Test - against Sri Lanka in Galle earlier this year. That Test was also Mominul's debut game, in which he scored 55. Before the start of 2013, the highest by a Bangladesh batsman was Mohammad Ashraful's unbeaten 158 against India in 2004.

The 27 fours he struck in his innings is the highest by a Bangladesh batsman; the previous record was 24 by Ashraful when he scored that unbeaten 158.

Unlike most innings, this one started in fifth gear and then went down a few notches as the innings progressed. His first 50 came off just 36 balls, the next 50 off 62, and his last 81 took all of 176 balls. From the team's point of view, though, this worked perfectly. The innings also showed Mominul can put together long innings: before this knock, he had gone past 20 in each of his five Test innings, but never beyond 64.

Mominul's innings, plus the contributions from Rahim and the others in the lower order, has ensured that Bangladesh have already played 116 overs, the fourth time they've gone past 100 overs in a Test innings this year. It equals their record for the most times they've gone beyond 100 overs in a calendar year - they'd also achieved this in 2010 and 2001. (Click here for the full list of 29 instances when Bangladesh have played 100 or more overs in a Test innings.)

Mominul also got fine support from his captain, Mushfiqur, who scored 67, and during the course of the innings became only the fifth Bangladesh batsman to go past 2000 Test runs. Among those five, Mushfiqur's average of 32.69 is the third-highest, after those of Tamim Iqbal (36.54) and Shakib Al Hasan (35.76). This was also Mushfiqur's 14th score of 50 or more in Tests, which puts him level with Ashraful; while Ashraful has played 119 innings, Mushfiqur's played only 67. Only three Bangladesh batsmen have more 50-plus scores in Tests - Habibul Bashar (27), Tamim (16) and Shakib (15).

The 121-run stand between Mominul and Mushfiqur is Bangladesh's sixth-best for the fifth wicket, and their second-highest against New Zealand.

Mushfiqur Rahim Mominul Haque Bangladesh New Zealand Bangladesh vs New Zealand New Zealand tour of Bangladesh

S Rajesh is stats editor of ESPNcricinfo. Follow him on Twitter