Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hasan were unstoppable against the wayward Afghanistan bowlers. Zakir Hasan gave his wicket unnecessarily.
But nothing has changed for Afghanistan. Shanta scored a century in two innings, Muminul Haque’s long wait of 26 months to reach three figures ended. Chasing big runs, the Afghans’ start also faded.
Bangladesh-Afghanistan face each other in the only Test at the Sher Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. The visitors need 617 runs with 8 wickets in hand to win at the end of the third day on Friday. After scoring 382 runs in the first innings, Bangladesh lost 4 wickets in the second innings and declared the innings by scoring 425 runs. Chasing 662 runs, the Afghans have so far lost 2 wickets and scored 45 runs. Bangladesh is getting the aroma of victory.
Both Shanto and Zakir scored half-centuries on the second day. On the third day as well, their batting got off to a great start. Shanta formed a great pair with Zakir. Afghanistan’s bowlers were quite disoriented, the runs were also coming at an ODI pace. Even though the visiting bowlers failed, Bangladesh came with wickets for themselves.
Hashmatullah Shahidi’s outside off stump hits the outside edge of Zakir’s bat and goes to deep third man region. After taking the first two runs with ease, Shanto-Zakir started the race for the third run. Afsar Zazai was dismissed after breaking the stumps after taking a throw from Ibrahim Zadran. The pair of 173 runs was broken. Zakir scored 71 runs off 95 balls with 8 fours.
Despite Zakir’s departure, Shant got the century right. This batsman joined hands with his batting partner Muminul Haque after touching three figures. Shanto touched him in the record book pages too. Five years ago Muminul scored a century in two innings, this time he did it calmly. He also scored a century in the first innings against Afghanistan.
Muminul scored a century in two innings of the Chittagong Test against Sri Lanka in 2018. Then he scored 176 and 105 runs. Five years after Muminul, Shanto scored 146 runs in the first innings against Afghanistan. He also scored a century in the second innings after playing 115 balls.
Shant returned to Zaheer Khan. Flicking to take a single, he caught the hands of Abdul Malik standing at midwicket. Earlier, Shanto scored 124 runs in 15 fours. This batsman scored 270 runs in two innings. After a quiet farewell, Muminul also got to see the century after a long wait.
His wait of almost 26 months is over. He celebrated by raising his bat towards the dressing room and hugging Liton Das. Muminul scored the 12th test century of his career. He also has the highest Test century for the country. Muminul scored 127 runs in Pallekele Test against Sri Lanka in April 2021. He did not see a century after that. He scored three half-centuries during this period.
Captain Liton Das hits a half century. He announced the innings after scoring 66 off 81 balls and Muminul Haque scored 121 off 145 balls with 12 fours and 1 six on 145 balls.
Chasing an almost impossible target, Afghanistan did not get off to a good start. Shariful Islam took a wicket on the first ball alongside Mashrafe Bin Mortaza. He took a wicket in the first ball of the innings, becoming the second bowler for the country in Tests by LBWing Ibrahim Zadran in the first ball.
Another Afghan opening batsman Abdul Malik could not extend the innings. He scored 5 runs off 7 balls and was caught by Liton Das behind the wicket off Taskin Ahmed. Then came a big blow for the Afghans without captain Hashmatullah Shahidi in the field.
Taskin Ahmed’s bouncer goes straight to his head. He immediately fell to the ground. After some treatment on the field, Hashmatullah retired on foot and returned to the dressing room. Rahmat Shah, who scored 10 runs from 32 balls, and Nasir Jamil, who scored 5 runs from 15 balls, will start the fourth day for the Afghans.
