London: Najmul Hossain and Mominul Haque both hit a century as Bangladesh closed in on a victory in the one-off Test against Afghanistan after setting up an improbable 662-run target for the opponent on Friday. Najmul followed his 146 from the first innings with 124, making him the second Bangladesh batter to hit a century in both innings of a Test.
Mominul, the first Bangladeshi to achieve the feat, brought up his first century since April 2021 with an unbeaten 121 as Bangladesh declared its second innings on 425-4. Afghanistan batted 11 overs to score 45-2 before bad light brought a premature end to the Day 3.
Afghanistan trails by 617 runs with two days left and would need to rewrite the record books to get an unlikely victory. To make matter worse, its captain Hashmatullah Shahidi had to retire after being hit in the head by a bouncer from fast bowler Taskin Ahmed.
Afghanistan’s bowling attack struggled to create any chances, while the Bangladesh batters got enough loose deliveries to punish with ease after resuming Day 3 at 134-1.
Opener Zakir Hasan scored 71 off 95 deliveries before perishing while going for a third run, ending a 173-run second-wicket partnership. After playing in limited-overs style, Najmul completed his fourth Test century off 115 balls, nudging occasional bowler Hashmatullah Shahidi behind square for a single.
Left-arm wrist spinner Zahir Khan momentarily intervened in Bangladesh’s run-fest, taking two wickets in three balls. After hitting 15 boundaries in his 151-ball knock, Shanto fell, clipping one to short midwicket. Veteran Mushfiqur Rahim miscued a reverse sweep, after hitting a six on the previous delivery.
Mominul and Liton Das then denied Afghanistan any success, with the former guiding a short delivery of pacer Yamin Ahmadzai over the keeper for a boundary to reach his 12th century. Liton, who was not out on 66 on his captaincy debut, picked up his 16th half-century, also hitting a boundary through fine leg against Zahir.
Paceman Shoriful Islam them gave Bangladesh a breakthrough with his first delivery, trapping Ibrahim Zadran lbw for duck. Abdul Malik edged a delivery of Taskin behind wicket as Bangladesh lost two wickets for seven runs in the second over. Rahmat Shah was batting on 10 with Nasir Jamal on 5. Bangladesh put up 382 in its first innings before dismissing Afghanistan for 146.
