I love power hitting and aggression is my strength - Parvez Hossain Emon

Bangladesh's new batting prodigy Parvez Hossain Emon has had the limelight turned on him once more following a record-breaking 42-ball 100 in the ongoing Bangabandhu T20 Cup. Parvez created history by scoring the quickest T20 century by a Bangladesh batsman, beating previous record-holder Tamim Iqbal, who had achieved 100 from 50 balls in the Bangladesh Premier League.

Emon turned heads early this year at the Under-19 World Cup, when he came back after being retired hurt to make a vital 47 off 79 balls in the final and help Bangladesh earn their first major trophy in an ICC event. Incidentally, his participation in that tournament had been a distant dream for the youngster, having been dropped from the Asia Cup squad in the build up the showpiece event in South Africa.

"The World Cup is history. I need to look forward," Emon tells Cricbuzz. "I suffered a cramp during the finals but was determined to bat again seeing wickets falling at regular intervals. I am happy that I could contribute in the finals.

Emon, who joined BKSP - country's lone sports institute in 2013, originally didn't want to take part in the national Under-18 competition for BKSP. It was his coach Asadul Haque Tutul who intervened and forced him to change his mind that eventually changed his career forever. He scored 86 and 90 in the competition, which also marked his comeback to the Under-19 squad.

"Emon was totally heartbroken after being dropped from the Asia Cup and decided not to take part in the Under-18 competition for us. Knowing him from the early age I had to make sure he is motivated to give one last try for a spot in the World Cup," Tutul tells Cricbuzz.

"Everyone is well aware about his talent but sometimes you need to back your student mentally when the chips are down and I only tried to do that at that point by calling him in BKSP and arranging extra training sessions for him and that was largely to bring back the hunger that he was missing."

Tutul feels his student Emon doesn't need to change his batting style because his high bat lift and free bat swing is exactly what helps him generate the power to clear the ropes.

"It's not like he doesn't know how to defend as he also has centuries in longer-version cricket but he loves to play T20 as that suits his style of batting. He prefers playing power cricket. The high bat lift and the free bat swing allows him to generate that power and he should continue playing that way," he says.

Emon echoed similar sentiments, stating that he probably took a lot of pressure after the opening game of the T20 Cup and paid the price for it. He feels that he played extra cautiously before returning to his strengths in his last innings for Fortune Barishal.

"I want to bat freely as that is my strength. After doing well in the opening game, I pressurised myself way too much and that prevented me from playing my natural game. However, in the last game I decided to play my way and eventually it paid off.

"Batting with Tamim bhai is like an inspiration because you can learn a lot watching him from the other end. When we were separated he just told me to only concentrate on playing my natural game and I preferred to follow his instruction and keep on playing my strokes."

Barisal head coach Sohel Islam, who was also involved with Emon since his Under-17 days, believes that he should be allowed to bat the way he wants to and is comfortable with.

"It's just the beginning for him and there is no point putting pressure on him just because he scored the fastest T20 century. But seeing him from a very young age, all I can say is that he is a natural stroke-maker and that is the way he needs to bat. He didn't slog mindlessly. Instead, he stuck to cricketing shots, particularly straight and through the covers. Earlier he couldn't stop hitting every ball but now it seems he has matured while his straight hitting has improved a lot," he added

Emon realises the spotlight on him has grown only greater following his recent exploits, but will not be overawed by the attention and change to a more widely acceptable style of batsmanship. "I know there will be expectations and I cannot live up to it in every game I play but changing my approach won't take me anywhere and so need to keep on batting the way I know the best.

"I love power hitting and aggression is my strength," Emon concludes.