Mirpur, Jun 14: Najmul Hossain hit his third century as Bangladesh dominated Afghanistan’s bowlers to reach 362-5 on the opening day of their one-off test on Wednesday.
Najmul scored 146 off 175 balls, hitting 23 fours and two sixes, and added 212 runs with opener Mahmudul Hasan for the second wicket to disrupt Afghanistan’s plan on a hot and humid day.
Mahmudul missed out his ton, being out on 76 after a knock that included nine fours.
At stumps, Mehidy Hasan was batting on 43 with Mushfiqur Rahim on 41, after sharing 72 runs for the sixth wicket.
“I don’t think we had batted in such hot and humid condition earlier but again it’s something that was not in our control. What was in our control, we tried to do it perfectly and I believe we are in good position,” Najmul said. “I enjoyed the way Mahmudul negotiated the new ball. He gave us the momentum.”
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi chose to bowl first after winning the toss. The decision appeared to be correct before Najmul kept them at bay as Bangladesh scored above 4.5 runs per over to rack up its third highest total on day one.
Pace bowler Nijatullah Masood had Zakir Hasan caught by wicket-keeper Afsar Zazai for 1, making him the first Afghan bowler to claim a wicket in his first delivery of his debut test — and 22nd overall.
The delivery from Masood in the second over shaped across Zakir but the umpire remained unmoved. The replays revealed that the ball took the slightest nick off the bat before going through to keeper.
Najmul counterattacked, epitomizing Bangladesh’s ambition to play an aggressive brand of cricket, and it paid off.
He punished anything short and raised his fourth test fifty off 58 balls, pulling a short delivery off the left-arm wrist spinner behind backward square leg for four.
Mahmudul, playing his first test since June last year, was patient compared to his partner as he brought up his third fifty off 102 balls when an overthrow gave him five runs.
Najmul frustrated the Afghan bowlers more to bring up his century off 118 balls and looked untroubled against a lackluster bowling attack.
“I don’t think we bowled as well as we should have,” Afghanistan coach Jonathon Trott said. “I think there’s a bit in the wicket. We saw that when we got the ball in the right areas consistently for long enough, we created chances.”
Rahmat Shah, an occasional legspinner, brought the crucial breakthrough for the side when Mahmudul cut straight to Ibrahim Zadran at slip.
The first two sessions saw Afghanistan taking just two wickets but they pulled the strings in the third session as debutant Masood (2-67) led the charge.
He successfully reviewed one to get the better of Mominul Haque, caught by the wicketkeeper for 15, and then rattled the stump of Najmul with another one that swung sharply. But to his dismay it was a no-ball.
Najmul failed to make the most of the chance and after adding just three runs, he was dismissed when he chipped straight to deep midwicket after being lured by left-arm spinner Amir Hamza.
On his captaincy debut, Liton Das was undone by the flight of left-arm wrist spinner Zahir Khan, edging it at first slip as Bangladesh slumped to 290-5 from 218-1. (AP)
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