Shanto’s aggression turns the tables on Afghanistan

Najmul Hossain Shanto raced to his half-century as Bangladesh settled on 116 for 1 at the end of the first session of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Dhaka. Shanto added 110 runs for the unbroken second wicket with Mahmudul Hasan Joy, as the pair lifted the home side from a bit of early trouble. The only highlight for Afghanistan, who put Bangladesh in to bat, was Nijat Masood taking a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket. He became the first Afghanistan cricketer to do so, and only the seventh in this century.

Shanto and Joy blunted Afghanistan with free-flowing strokeplay for the rest of the session. Shanto was unbeaten on 64 off 76 balls with eleven fours, while Joy struck six fours in his 70-ball 38.

Masood's wicket was the result of a ball that moved sharply away from Zakir who held his bat in an attempt to avoid the edge. He was unperturbed when Masood and the rest of the Afghanistan fielders started celebrating. The umpire too didn't raise his finger at first but when the review came up, the edge was obvious.

Shanto brushed aside the early setback with a brace of boundaries off pace bowler Yamin Ahmadzai, both drives through mid-off. Shanto struck six more boundaries, three off Masood as he used the aggressively set field to his advantage. He welcomed the left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan into the attack with three more fours.

Joy struck Karim Janat with a drive, after Shanto had dismantled the new-ball bowlers. That string of boundaries ended up with Zahir conceding three fours in the 20th over. With the first one, Shanto brought up his fourth Test fifty. Zahir struggled for accuracy, mostly bowling on leg-stump. Joy struck him for two more fours, both leg-stump half-volleys, while Shanto had got a first ball four with a rank long-hop.

The unbeaten batters settled into a rhythm as the Afghanistan bowlers made a few too many mistakes on a firm, green pitch in Mirpur.

Source: ESPNcricinfo