First Of Five: Tigers batsman Alok Kapali slog-sweeps Pragyan Ojha for his first six during his fantastic 115 against India during their Asia Cup match in Karachi yesterday. Photo: AFPIt may have taken a long time but Alok Kapali on Saturday reminded everybody about his class with a magnificent hundred against India in the Asia Cup Super League match at the Karachi National Stadium.For any cricket lover in the country it was hard to forget his outstanding unbeaten 89-run knock against West Indies at the Bangabandhu National Stadium long ago in December 2002. Since then the wristy right-hander's erratic form threw him out of the national team.The elegant batsman however made his way back into the senior side rather by default for this particular tournament following the injury of Aftab Ahmed.His performance in the last four games hardly gave any indication about his abilities as a batsman capable of scoring big runs. Rather it enhanced his critics' notion that he is a decent leg-spinner capable of contributing 30 odd runs batting down the order.But the soft-spoken cricketer from Sylhet finally justified his talent. His 115 against a quality Indian bowling came in his sixtieth one-day appearance and undoubtedly it has come in an emphatic fashion.His maiden ton off 88 balls was also the fastest by a Bangladeshi and it was also the first hundred against India by any Bangladeshi batsman. But there were more than only the statistics to cheer the innings.His innings marked with eye-pleasing shots on both sides of the wicket and featured ten sweetly timed boundaries and five astutely hit sixes. Anybody who has the misfortune of missing it perhaps missed arguably the best one-day knock by a Bangladeshi in the one-day version of the game.It was fantastic to watch the way a front-footed down-the-track shot against left-arm pacer RP Singh disappeared to wide long-on, a late cut by the 24-year-old racing down to the point boundary, a deft roll of the wrist that turned into a four down to mid-wicket when the experts thought it could bring only a single. Then the imperious slog sweep that saw the ball hoisted to the gallery on several occasions.Kapali reached his fifty also by hitting the massive slog sweep against spinner Yusuf Pathan.He reached his hundred with a single off Ishant Sharma to third man. Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful had the previous best of 100 in 100 balls against Australia at Cardiff in 2005.The stunning innings came to an end with just one ball remaining in the Bangladesh innings and it needed an outstanding catch by Pragyan Ojha off Manpreet Gony at deep midwicket. But by that time Kapali had made sure that it would not be another meek surrender against the high-flying Indians.
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