Grit, determination, Joy: one of the finest innings by a Bangladesh opener keeps Tigers in hunt against SA

Bangladesh were bundled out for 298 runs in their first innings after opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy played one of the finest knocks for Bangladesh in Test cricket. His heroic 137 is the highest individual score against South Africa in Test cricket. 

The right-handed batter hit 15 boundaries and two sixes in his gritty innings where he faced 326 balls. 

When Yasir Ali was dismissed for 22, Bangladesh were already 7 down for 216. 367 seemed a total too far away. But Joy's 51-run partnership with Mehidy Hasan Miraz brought them right back in the game. 

Joy was a key part of the Bangladesh team that proudly lifted the title of the 2020 Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. He has made his first tour of South Africa with the senior team memorable as well with a glorious hundred at Kingsmead in Durban in the ongoing first Test match between Bangladesh and South Africa. It was like a sweet homecoming for the youngster.

Joy made his Test debut last year against Pakistan at home although many doubted if it was too early for him. He didn't do anything mentionable on his debut. The 21-year-old hushed up the doubters soon, by playing a fighting knock against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui earlier this year and helping Bangladesh to register their first-ever Test win against the team. His 78 off 228 balls set the tone for something historic. 

Joy missed the second Test due to injury but returned to the side in the team's next Test match - the ongoing Durban Test. He opened the innings with Shadman Islam, kept on losing partners but stood tall. He lost four of them before stumps on day two but was probably the only batter who looked comfortable against two top-class spinners in Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer. Joy spent around three and a half hours in the middle on day two and scored a patient 44 not out off 141 balls.

He got out at the start of a new day after working so hard on the previous day in New Zealand but he did not make the same mistake against South Africa. He remained focused, didn't look to score and hung in there for about 45 minutes to get his eye in. As soon as Harmer came into the attack, Joy unsettled him with a flurry of boundaries including a six over wide long-on. Joy reached his fifty off 170 balls but his second fifty came at a much quicker rate.

On day two, it was all about surviving but Joy dominated the South African attack on the third day. He was particularly severe off Harmer who ran riot the previous day. He was great against Maharaj when he picked up two boundaries in the same over the square on the off-side. On-drive was his go-to shot in the innings but he collected a lot of his runs through the cover region as well.

It's always difficult for the batters of the subcontinent especially the openers to score big in New Zealand and South Africa conditions but Joy has done that with utmost perfection. He is the only Asian opener to face more than 200 balls on his debut innings in both New Zealand and South Africa. That speaks volumes about the young man's calibre.

It was only the second hundred by a Bangladeshi in South Africa in any format and the first in Tests. Joy is just the sixth Asian opener to pick up a hundred in Tests on South African soil. And in just his second Test match away from home, he became the first Bangladeshi batter to face 200-plus balls more than once in SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia). Remember, he is yet to play in Australia and England.

Tamim Iqbal has been Bangladesh's most reliable batter overseas and in the absence of him, Joy has taken the responsibility on his young shoulders. Joy seems to be a long-term solution to 'opening' problems that Bangladesh have been facing for quite a long time and with age on his side, one can hope that he will be a consistent performer at least in Tests in future, both home and away.