Daily Times

DHAKA: Tamim Iqbal has recorded the highest individual score in first-class cricket by a Bangladeshi when he scored 334 not out for East Zone in a Bangladesh Cricket League match against Central Zone in Mirpur on Sunday. It was the second instance of a Bangladeshi batsman getting to a first-class triple century, after Raqibul Hasan’s 313 in March 2007, and also the highest first-class score in the country, topping Kumar Sangakkara’s 319 in a Test match in 2014. He got past Sangakkara’s mark with a stylish six down the ground off Shuvagata Hom.

Thanks to Tamim’s quick innings – he faced 426 balls, and hit 42 fours and three sixes – East Zone declared on 555 for 2 in reply to Central’s 213. He didn’t spend too long in the 290s, hitting boundaries off Hom and Mustafizur Rahman through the off-side field before picking up a quick single to cross the mark in the second session on the third day. Raqibul was incidentally on the field – in the opposition – when Tamim reached the landmark. A sparse crowd, which included Bangladesh head coach Russell Domingo, selectors and BCB officials came out of their offices to applaud the left-handed Tamim, Bangladesh’s highest run-getter in international cricket.

Tamim began the third morning on 222, before putting together a big partnership with Yasir Ali for the third wicket, before going to to lunch on 279. He faced 407 balls and hit 40 boundaries to reach the figure. The opening batsman has been batting since the first evening of this four-day game, having put on partnerships worth 62 with opening partner Pinak Ghosh and 296 with Mominul Haque, who made 111 on the second day. Following a short break from the game, Tamim will make his Test comeback when Bangladesh play their first Test in Pakistan, in Rawalpindi, next month.