Who is Towhid Hridoy? All you need to know about Bangladesh's young batting sensation

Towhid Hridoy is a young batting sensation from Bangladesh, who recently made his debut for the national side in international cricket, earlier this year, in both the white-ball formats- ODIs and T20Is, respectively. The 22-year-old Hridoy was born on December 4, 2000, in Bogra District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. He was part of the Bangladesh U19 squad which played in the Youth World Cup in 2018, in New Zealand.

He was the vice-captain of the Bangladesh side which won the U19 World Cup in 2020, in South Africa, defeating India U19 in the tournament. He has also turned out for Fortune Barishal and Sylhet Strikers in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 tournament. In the Lanka Premier League (LPL) 2023, Hridoy turned out for Jaffna Kings. 

Hridoy made his ODI debut for Bangladesh against Ireland in Sylhet, on March 18, and hammered 92 in 85 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes, thereby helping his side to score 338/8 in 50 overs. With Ebadot Hossain taking 4/42, Bangladesh wrapped Ireland's innings for 155 and won the match by 183 runs. His knock of 92 runs on his ODI debut is the highest individual score for a Bangladesh batter on ODI debut. 

Thus far in 13 ODIs, Towhid Hridoy has made 442 runs with 4 fifties to his name at an average of 40.18. In 8 T20Is, Hridoy has made 156 runs with a best of 47*. Speaking of the ongoing Asia Cup 2023, Hridoy has scores of 0, 2, and 82 runs in three encounters. 

Bangladesh almost eliminated from Asia Cup 2023 after losing to Sri Lanka in Super 4s

Bangladesh have lost both their first two games in the Super 4s stage of Asia Cup 2023 thus far. They first lost to Pakistan in Lahore. Bangladesh were blown away for 193 runs with Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim scoring half-centuries. 

Then fifties from Imam Ul Haq and Mohammad Rizwan made short work of the target in under 40 overs to win by 7 wickets. Bangladesh then faced Sri Lanka in Colombo and batted first. The home side managed to post a decent total of 257/9 in 50 overs, with Sadeera Samarawickrama scoring 93 runs and Kusal Mendis making 50 runs. Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud took three wickets each for the visiting side.

In reply, only Towhid Hridoy stood out with a brilliant 82-run knock for the Bangla Tigers, while none of the other batters could reach 30. Bangladesh could only manage 236 runs and lost by 21 runs. They will now face India next on September 15, in Colombo, to save face as they do not have any points on the board.