Abu Dhabi, October 12 Bangladesh has maintained its grip on the ongoing one-off Test match against Afghanistan at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. The team set a mammoth target of 479 runs for Afghanistan to win on the fourth day of the match. In response, the Afghan team finished the day at 132/3. They need 347 runs to win, while Bangladesh will be looking for the remaining 7 wickets on the final day.
Winning the toss and electing to bat, Bangladesh scored 346 runs in the first innings. Shadman Islam shared a 124-run opening partnership with Tanzid Hasan Tamim. Tanzid top-scored with 83, while Liton Das added 53. Shadman Islam also contributed 67 runs to the team’s cause. For the opposition, Mohammad Salim took the most wickets, taking four, while Yamin Ahmadzai took three. Ismat Alam took two.
In response, the Afghan team was all out for 240 in the first innings. Captain Rahmat Shah scored an unbeaten 105 with 12 boundaries, while Abdul Malik scored 62. Ikram Alikhil added 32 runs. For Bangladesh, Hasan Mahmud took five wickets for 55 runs, while Ebadot Hossain took four wickets.
Bangladesh declared their second innings at 372/7, setting Afghanistan a mammoth target of 479 runs to win. Bangladesh lost three wickets for 53 runs in this innings, after which captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto (82) added 159 runs for the fourth wicket with Mushfiqur Rahim to take the team past 200.
Rahim was dismissed for 81 runs with nine fours, after which the team lost six wickets at the score of 223. However, Mehidy Hasan Miraz added 149 runs for the seventh wicket with Liton Das to take the team to a huge score. Liton was dismissed for 102 runs with 14 fours, while Mehidy Hasan played an unbeaten innings of 52 runs. Yamin Ahmadzai, Mohammad Saleem, and Zia-ur-Rahman each took two wickets for the Afghan team.
Chasing the huge target, the Afghan team faltered early on. After losing Abdul Malik (2) for just 3 runs, the team also lost Shahidullah Kamal (19) at the score of 28.
From there, Rahmat Shah shared an 82-run partnership for the third wicket with Sediqullah Atal to take the team past the century mark. Shah was dismissed for 51 off 124 balls with 6 boundaries. From there, Sediqullah shared an unbroken 22-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Hashmatullah Shahidi by the end of the day. Ebadot Hossain took 2 wickets and Hasan Mahmud took 1 wicket in this innings.
