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Mushfiqur Rahim said that he’d enjoyed the new experience of being unbeaten on 99 runs overnight after his historic milestone of reaching a hundred in his 100th Test against Ireland at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Thursday. 

Among the previous 10 batters who went on to score a hundred in their 100th Test, only Colin Cowdrey of England had to endure the agitation of reaching the milestone being not out in the nervous nineties overnight.

Mushfiq was on strike in the first delivery of the second day. Fans came early to see Mushfiq reach the milestone while they were cheering, ‘Mushfiq, hundred!’ But when he played out the first over off Matthew Humphreys without scoring, tension grew. 

Finally, a single of Jordan Neill was enough to etch his name in history as he joined the elite list. 

‘I was trying to make it happen yesterday [Wednesday]. Because no milestone is easy [to get],’ said Mushfiq after the second day’s play. 

Ireland delayed their proceedings on the first afternoon when Mushfiq was on the verge of the milestone. After much drama, the umpires called stumps while the 38-year-old was on 99. 

‘It might have happened had one more over been left. But at the end of the day, they’re also here to play, so it was a tactical thing. We would’ve tried the same thing if we were on the other side,’ he added. 

However, Mushfiq’s motivation was bigger than only reaching the milestone. 

He said, ‘But at the same time, I actually wanted to score a big 100 rather than just getting the 100. So, I was trying to motivate myself that it’s not just one run; I can still maybe add another 60-70 more runs for the team and make sure I can stay there until Litton scores 100.’

‘So, that was my motivation. So, I tried from that perspective. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but Miraz, he played really well after that,’ he added. 

Mushfiq also pointed out that cricket was still giving him new experiences—like being on 99 overnight. 

‘It didn’t happen in last 20 years that I was on 99 and not out. So that’s one of my new experiences, which I really enjoyed to be honest. And I think cricket is such a sport that even after 20 years, there are so many things you can experience,’ said Mushfiq. 

He dedicated his historic milestones to his late grandparents from both sides. According to him, they were the biggest fans of him.