Bangladesh ended day one of the Dhaka test on 362 for 5, thanks to a brilliant knock by Najmul Hossain Shanto.
Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bowl first, with Zakir Hasan dismissed for just one run early on.
Despite this, Bangladesh had a strong start with Mahmudul Hasan Joy scoring 76 runs from 137 balls, including 9 boundaries before being caught by Ibrahim Zadran off the bowling of Rahmat Shah.
Shanto then joined the crease and played a brilliant innings, scoring 146 runs from 175 balls with 23 boundaries and 2 sixes before being caught by Nasir Jamal off the bowling of Amir Hamza. Mominul Haque contributed 15 runs from 25 balls before being caught by Afsar Zazai off the bowling of Nijat Masood.
“It was not easy to score runs here,” Shanto said in the press conference after the day. “I had a plan, and I just executed that.” He also said that Bangladesh is expecting to amass as many runs as possible, riding on the stand between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz.
Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten on 41 runs from 69 balls with 3 boundaries, while Litton Das scored 9 runs from 15 balls before being caught by Ibrahim Zadran off the bowling of Zahir Khan. Mehidy Hasan Miraz remained unbeaten on 43 runs from 66 balls with 7 boundaries.
Bangladesh finished the day with a total of 362 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 79 overs.
For Afghanistan, Nijat Masood took 2 wickets, while Zahir Khan, Amir Hamza, and Rahmat Shah claimed 1 wicket each. At the end of the day’s play, Jonathan Trott, the Afghanistan head coach, said they want to take the remaining Bangladesh wickets as quickly as possible.
“It would be nice to get five wickets for ten runs, and then get 500. We have the new ball again in one over. Then hopefully Nijat and the seamers can bowl well tomorrow,” Trott said.
