Bangladesh batter Najmul Hossain Shanto said he put faith on his work ethics despite the perpetual failure and it eventually paid off to give him the consistency that he was craving for.
Dubbed as one of the most talented cricketers, Shanto couldn’t justify his worth initially which prompted the fans to lash out at him vehemently in social media. Sometimes the rude fans dragged his family into the matter while criticizing him ruthlessly.
However despite the negative talk and his inconsistent batting, the team management kept belief on his ability and gave him the repeated chances. After his debut in International cricket in 2017, Shanto finally found the much-needed consistency in the last year and shut the mouth of the critics.
“I always believed in my practice pattern and hard work. I had that belief that I was going right, giving the right amount of effort in practice,” Shanto said after the day one game of the one-off Test against Afghanistan.
“But the result was not coming. Of course, when I don’t score, I feel bad. But I never thought much about the outcome, that’s true. I didn’t even think about the negative talk revolving around me. Yes, it has come, many times the bad feeling has worked. I didn’t focus much. My point was to improve where there was a deficiency. Then the outcome did not come but now it is coming. Now my target is to keep up the consistency.”
After playing some beautiful knocks in ODI and T20 cricket, Shanto translated this form to Test cricket also. His superb 146 was instrumental in Bangladesh’s 362-5 on day one.
He came to the crease when Bangladesh lost Zakir Hasan in the second over but Shanto was not fazed by it. He took the Afghan bowlers in disdain and put on a 212-run partnership with opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy to lay a solid platform for the team.
“Batting was not easier on this hot and humid condition. I don’t think we played cricket in such unforgiving weather earlier. You may think that I scored with ease but to be honest I had to grind it down,” he added.
Shanto believes the team is in good shape at this moment and they can dominate Afghanistan thoroughly from this position if Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz could make their partnership bigger one.
“We are in good position. Afghan bowlers didn’t bowl badly but we batted well. We lost some wicket in quick succession after I got out. But then Mushfiqur and Mehidy played well to put us in good stead. If they can make the partnership bigger, we’ll be in complete control of the game,” he disclosed.
