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Riyad finds his role

Sakeb Subhan
One run needed off the last ball and Mahmudullah Riyad laces it through cover for two to spark celebrations. Similar scenes of high-pressure runs being scored by the cool Mahmudullah Riyad are etched in the Bangladeshi cricket lover's memory - in the T20 Asia Cup match in 2016 against Pakistan, in the Champions Trophy match against New Zealand in the summer of 2017, the Nidahas Trophy penultimate-ball six against Sri Lanka in March this year.
But yesterday the uniform was white and the one run needed in the last ball before the tea break was not to win the match, but for Bangladesh's stand-in skipper to strike his first Test ton since scoring his maiden century against New Zealand in Hamilton in February 2010.
But it is instructive that other than the uniform being white and the ball being red, it was not much different from the colourful environment in which the elegant righthander has thrived. In limited-overs cricket, he excels in crises. It was certainly a crisis when Mahmudullah walked to the crease in the first hour of the morning with the score reading 25 for four.
At the crease were a debutant in Mohammad Mithun and a captain dealing with a form crisis - Mahmudullah's highest score since the maiden ton was an unbeaten 83 against Sri Lanka earlier this year. If he had failed and Bangladesh somehow managed to lose the match and the series against Zimbabwe, it could well have triggered a professional crisis.
Mahmudullah's batting in the longest format - especially in the three Tests since that 83 - has suffered partly because of an inability to be decisive in his shot selection, and in part because of a high degree of vulnerability in the initial stages. Those demons surfaced early in his innings
when there were some airy wafts outside the off stump and • occasional lack of feet movement. It did not help that he was batting in the morning against the new ball - the tough-; est time of the day for someone who is yet to get his feet ■ moving.
But there was something else that seemed to see him through. For a batsman who has become so good at one-day cricket a definitive target seemed to serve as the catalyst. Mehedi Hasan Miraz said after the end of the day's play that the team had decided upon setting Zimbabwe a target higher than 400 and give themselves at least four sessions to bowl them out. Soon Mahmudullah was moving his feet, stretching out to hit Donald Tiripano through the covers and, after lunch, batting more like he does in GDIs - never irresponsibly, but decisively.
In 2014, Mahmudullah was a promising one-day batsman but - floating around in the order - not yet the finished article. Then Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusingha gave him the definitive role of batting at number three in the World Cup and he flowered. His role later changed into that of a finisher, but it remained definitive. In Test cricket too it was the same - batting lower down the order in a volatile batting lineup, he often gave the impression of not knowing how to go about scoring runs.
There is a space in a good Test team for someone who can move the game forward and take control like Mahmudullah did yesterday. The best thing for Bangladesh ahead of a more challenging assignment against West Indies is if Mahmudullah, with the monkey now off his back, has indeed found his method and his role.