Bangladesh dominates as Shanto hits century

Bangladesh made a steady start to the one-off Test against Afghanistan, thanks to Najmul Hossain Shanto's century and Mahmudul Hasan Joy's half-century on day one at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Shanto, who excelled in ODI and T20 formats, shrugged off his inconsistency and found his much-needed consistency in the longer version format too as he was batting on 104. Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy, playing his first Test since June last year, also looked untroubled and was batting on 61.

At 39 overs, their partnership was a respectable 190 runs.

But Bangladesh made a stumbling start after Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi sent them into batting.

Pace bowler Nijatullah Masood had Zakir Hasan for 1 caught by wicket-keeper Afsar Zazai, making him the first Afghan bowler to claim the wicket in the first delivery of the debut test.

The delivery from Masood in the second over was shaped across Zakir but the umpire remained unmoved. The replays revealed that the ball took the faintest nick off the bat before going through to the wicket-keeper.

By doing so, Masood became the 22nd bowler in the world to achieve the feat.

Shanto however counterattacked, epitomising Bangladesh's ambition to play an aggressive brand of cricket and it paid off handsomely. He punished anything short as he struck 19 boundaries in his almost chanceless knock. 

Mahmudul, who hit eight boundaries in his knock was patient during his knock as Bangladesh remained untroubled.

/KN/