Hridoy cherishes 'opportunity to play main role'

It was a dream come true moment for Towhid Hridoy who smashed his maiden T20 hundred helping Comilla Victorians to a four-wicket win over Durdanto Dhaka in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) in Mirpur on Friday.  

Hridoy became the sixth Bangladesh batter to score a BPL hundred and the first player to do so in the ongoing edition. 

The right-handed batter came to the crease in a very tricky situation as Comilla were struggling at 23 runs for the loss of three wickets in reply to Dhaka's 176-run target.  

But Hridoy held the innings together and was able to tackle the rising run rates. He smashed seven sixes and eight fours for his unbeaten 57-ball 108-run knock having reached the milestone in 53 balls. 

After the match-winning knock which helped Comilla to second place in the standings, Hridoy said he cherished the opportunity to play the main role which helped him to take the match by the scruff of the neck.

"I would like to thank our coach and captain for allowing me to bat up the order and I tried to make use of the opportunity. I had the opportunity to play the main role today. To be honest, I never played for my century. Even when I reached the nineties, I never thought of the landmark. I just tried to dispatch the bad deliveries to the boundary and tried to finish the game," said Hridoy.

"We lost a few early wickets but I had the mindset to remain attacking since our target was 170-plus. I stuck to my plan and tried to execute that. First hundred in T20s, it's a dream for every batter. I had the opportunity to score a century last season but couldn't make it. I registered one tonight and it's important for any batter to score a hundred," Hridoy told the media after the match.

Despite notching up his maiden BPL hundred, the 23-year-old rated the three successive centuries he scored against Sri Lanka during his Under-19 days higher.

"All my hundreds are special but if I have to mention the most special ones, I would rate the three consecutive hundreds against Sri Lanka during my Under-19 days as one of the biggest achievements of my life," Hridoy said. 

Local batters have been criticised over their lack of power and the shortcoming has often been pointed out as the reason behind them not being able to hit big sixes.
Hridoy, who struck seven sixes and eight fours, however, stated that it doesn't require big muscles to hit sixes.

"It feels good to hit sixes and I try to hit those whenever I get the opportunity. Look it's not that you need huge muscles like the West Indies cricketers. Our batters can also hit those big sixes. What I feel is that we are not used to such situations often and the more we can execute on the field, the easier it will get. I don't think hitting sixes is tough, it's just having that confidence," he said.