Mominul Haque: From Next Don Bradman To A Fallen Hero For Bangladesh

Mominul Haque Compared To Bradman-(Source: @CricketTalking/X.com)Mominul Haque Compared To Bradman-(Source: @CricketTalking/X.com)

Day one of the second Test between India and Bangladesh ended prematurely. Rain played a spoilsport after lunch and abandoned the proceedings. Bangladesh are 107/3 after play on day 1, with Mominul Haque batting unbeaten on 40 (81), which featured seven fours. 

Haque's journey has been a strange one. He made his Test debut in 2013 and was once dubbed the next Don Bradman of cricket. However, his career has taken a significant downturn, from being dubbed the next big thing with an average of 83 to now averaging just 33 in red-ball cricket. Let's look at his decline.

Haque's Brilliant Start To His Career

Haque started his Test career on a high and scored two consecutive fifty-plus scores in his first two innings. He smashed his maiden Test hundred in his fourth Test match against New Zealand. He stitched 181, and his average was 64. 

Haque bettered his record in the next match with another century against the Blackcaps and took his average to 83.43 after just five games. Since his heroics against New Zealand in the two Test matches at home, Haque was being compared with Bradman for his staggering average.

However, he then amassed just two centuries in his next seven matches, bringing down his average to 63.05.  Until then, Mominul Haque was being compared to Bradman as he boasted an average of 63.90 from 24 innings, the second-highest in the history of Test cricket for players with a minimum of 20 innings.

Mominul Haque's Career Takes A Sharp Decline 

But Things have gone downhill for Haque since then. He has never been that consistent in his career and took a major hit in his average. It is worth noting that since 2014, Haque has had to wait four years to score his next century. His average took a significant hit, dropping to 43. Despite two straight centuries against Sri Lanka at home, Mominul's average lingered at 48.20. 

Further, in 2018, Haque registered three ducks in a single calendar year, which was a significant blow to his Test career.  In 2019, Haque registered twin ducks against India, which lowered his test average from 40 to 30. He also registered a duck in the first innings of the current Chennai Test, and his average is 37.78.  He has 14 Test ducks for The Tigers, the second-most in their history.