‘Afif can score big when given the opportunity’

Selector Habibul Bashar was surprised to learn that Afif Hossain's unbeaten 111 at Fatullah yesterday was the batter's first-ever List A ton, ending a six-year wait since making his List A debut in 2017.

Afif came into bat in the 16th at number four, in a position that the left-hander favours. With overs in hand, Afif notched a 101-ball 111 with six fours and five sixes.

Out of the national team, he had been told to return to runs this DPL and the 446 runs scored at an average of 55.75 and a strike-rate of 114.95 certainly improves his chances of returning to the national fold and Bashar felt that batting up the order had made the difference.

"Given the player that he is, he should have more centuries. But I feel that he is batting where he wanted to. The lack of centuries was because he was batting at six or seven. He batted at four today and I have seen him bat for a long time and it was a very mature knock. He played one bad shot but otherwise it was all good and knew what areas to target against which bowlers," Bashar told The Daily Star yesterday.

National team head coach Chandika Hathurusingha said that performances had factored into Afif being dropped.

"He had talked to the coach, maybe regarding technical issues too. From what I see this DPL, things look good in terms of facing pace and spin and the strike-rate he is scoring at. He is doing a fair job. When he came to bat before, there were not many overs left and the requirement was to go and hit from the off. People used to think of him as a power-hitter and even in age-level cricket he had to bat down the order. He is someone who, when given an opportunity, can score big runs. And he has a big ton in first-class too," he said.

"There is a wrong assumption that Afif did not want to bat lower down the order. But numbers six and seven is not for genuine batters, they are for all-rounders. He has the ability to be a power-hitter. Batters want to bat further up the order and it's not like he didn't want to bat lower," he added.

Most importantly, Afif is still not out of sight in terms of World Cup plans. Will he bat lower if he returns to the national set-up?

"First things first, the most important is whether he can return to the team. I don't feel it's a big factor where he bats if he returns. It's about team requirements. The expectations were that he scores runs and selects himself. I can't say whether he returns but he is scoring runs which is important," Bashar concluded.

Courtesy of Afif's ton, Abahani reached 285 for five before Khushdil Shah restricted Prime Bank to 243 all out with a six-wicket haul to hand his side a 42-run win.

Elsewhere, Chirag Jani was once again the hero for Legends of Rupganj in a four-wicket win against Gazi Group with a 73-ball 81 in chase of Gazi's 265 for nine. Sheikh Jamal remained top with an 85-run win over Mohammedan at BKSP while Shinepukur Cricket Club won their relegation league match against Dhaka Leopards by five wickets at BKSP as well.