Anamul Haque Bijoy now highest run-getter in single season of DPL

Anamul Haque Bijoy burst onto the scene after smashing a host of centuries in Under-19 and domestic cricket. He was the highest run-getter of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, bettering the likes of Babar Azam and Quinton de Kock. His international career was off to the best start possible. He scored a brilliant 120 in just his second ODI against the West Indies to help Bangladesh record their then-biggest win in the 50-over format. 

But the fall was as swift as his rise. There was constant criticism about his strike-rate in ODIs and his inability to rotate the strike frequently did not help. Bijoy got himself injured in a match against Scotland in the 2015 World Cup while fielding and was ruled out of the tournament. He was immediately replaced by a high-flying Soumya Sarkar and Bijoy was out of the national team for three years. 

After his return to the team, he played eight ODIs between 2018 and 2019 but could not once cross 50. After Litton Das became the regular opener and Shakib Al Hasan permanently moved to number three, the chances of Bijoy's comeback looked bleak. 

But the wicketkeeper-batter kept on piling up runs in the domestic cricket but there was a noticeable change in his batting in this year's Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the country's franchise-based T20 tournament. In nine matches, he scored 280 runs at an average of 31 and with a strike-rate of 122 for Sylhet Sunrisers. What caught everyone's eyes was his power-hitting. His bat swing certainly increased and was generating more power while playing the shots.

Bijoy credited Sylhet's power-hitting coach Julian Wood for his improvement. "I got to practice a lot with [Julian] Wood. He worked with me the whole month. I must thank him. I have learned a lot from him and was able to implement that with the bat," said Bijoy. 

The next stop was the Dhaka Premier League (DPL), the most competitive local tournament in Bangladesh. Bijoy made the switch from T20s to 50-over cricket superbly and started the tournament with a fifty. Bijoy scored his first hundred in the tournament in the next match. Against Shinepukur Cricket Club, Bijoy fell just 16 short of a double hundred. So far in the tournament, he has hardly failed to register a big score with the bat.

Before Wednesday's match against Legends of Rupganj, the Prime Bank opener was just 10 runs away from bettering Saif Hassan's record (814 runs) of highest runs in a single season of DPL after the tournament got List A status in 2013-14. With a 73-run innings in the rain-affected 33-over match, Bijoy now has 878 runs in the tournament with two hundreds and seven fifties from 12 innings. He still has three matches left and there is a decent chance of him crossing the 1000-run mark.

The previous record holder was Saif who scored 814 runs in the 2018-19 session for Prime Doleshwar.