Towhid Hridoy’s unbeaten 350 for Bangladesh A against South Africa A has done what no amount of waiting could. The 25-year-old has been recalled to Bangladesh’s 15-member squad for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in the UAE, starting October 9.
Hridoy scored 350 not out off 481 balls at Senwes Park, Potchefstroom, hitting 27 fours and 10 sixes. It is the highest first-class score by a Bangladeshi batter, surpassing Tamim Iqbal’s 334 not out set in 2020. It is the first time a Bangladeshi has scored a triple century outside Bangladesh. It is the highest score by an overseas batter in South African first-class cricket.
“To be honest this innings gave me a lot of confidence. After picking the Man of the Match trophy I was feeling that someday I will play an innings like this in the national team.”
Towhid Hridoy, after 350 not out vs South Africa A, September 2026
What cameras captured was the record. What they missed is the tunnel vision a batter experiences after being told he is not good enough, and why proving otherwise across 481 balls in South Africa is harder than any single Test innings.
Hridoy made his Test debut against Zimbabwe at Harare in June 2026. Bangladesh lost by an innings and 85 runs inside three days. It was the kind of defeat where individual performances get buried under the team’s collapse. When Bangladesh named their squad for the Australia tour in August, Hridoy was not in it. No official explanation was given. Five changes were made, driven partly by injuries to Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam, and Litton Das, but the result was clear. After one Test, Hridoy was out.
He was sent to South Africa with Bangladesh A instead. He captained the side. In the second unofficial Test, he walked in at number four and did not leave. He was 204 not out overnight. He batted through the entire final day and finished on 350 not out. Bangladesh A declared at 676 for 8, leading South Africa A by 164 runs. The match ended in a draw, but the series had already been decided. South Africa A won it 1-0 after taking the first match.
The knock made Hridoy only the third Bangladeshi to score a first-class triple century, after Raqibul Hasan’s 313 not out in 2007 and Tamim’s 334 not out in 2020. He did it at Potchefstroom, the same ground where Bangladesh won the U-19 World Cup in 2020. Hridoy was part of that squad.
Towhid Hridoy’s record-breaking 350 not out for Bangladesh A against South Africa A has helped him return to the Test side
Full story: https://t.co/g8nTVKcbZN pic.twitter.com/rU2nVjT6VP
— Cricinfo (@cricinfo) September 19, 2026
Insider Read
One Test is not enough to prove anything. It is enough to plant doubt. A batter who debuts in a defeat that lasts three days carries a specific kind of uncertainty back with him. Not about technique. About whether the selectors saw enough to trust him again. Being sent to an A tour after that is not a consolation. It is a second audition with no guarantee of a callback.
The conditions in South Africa are nothing like what Hridoy would face in the UAE or at home. The pitches have more bounce, the ball moves longer, and the standards of A-team cricket sit in a strange middle ground where reputations are neither made nor protected by the occasion. What matters is not the runs alone. It is the manner. And 481 balls in those conditions tells selectors one thing they could not learn from Harare: this batter does not fold under pressure. The selectors needed the opposite of what they saw in Zimbabwe. They got it.
Bangladesh’s squad for the Afghanistan Test reflects steady selection rather than upheaval. Najmul Hossain Shanto captains a side that includes the experienced core of Mushfiqur Rahim, Mominul Haque, and Litton Das. Jaker Ali was also recalled after strong performances with Bangladesh A. Taskin Ahmed has been rested. Nahid Rana remains unavailable through injury, with chief selector Habibul Bashar confirming he will not be fit until October 10, one day after the Test begins.
The pace attack of Hasan Mahmud, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, and Shoriful Islam will operate in UAE conditions for the first time in Bangladesh’s Test history. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam lead the spin options.
Hridoy’s recall is not a reward. It is the logical result of a player who was told his place was not secure and responded with the most emphatic innings in his country’s first-class history.
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