The only Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, in Chattogram ended in the most dramatic way possible. The Afghani team dominated their more experienced opponents throughout the match and beat them in their own game impressively.
New captain Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bat first on a belter of a wicket and his batsmen proved him right as they piled up 342 runs in the first innings with Rahmat Shah becoming the first Afghanistan batsman to hit a Test century. His 102 was decorated with 10 fours and 2 sixes. Shah was helped by Asghar Afghan, who made 92 and Rashid himself slammed 51, while Afsar Zazai made 41 runs.
Taijul Islam picked 4/116, while Shakib (2/64) and Nayeem (2/43) were the other wicket-takers for the Bangladeshi side.
Rashid Khan starred with the ball as well, as his 5/55 and Nabi’s 3/56 restricted Bangladesh to 205 in their first innings. Mominul Haque made 52 and Mosaddek Hossain made 48 for the home side, which gave a lead of 137 to the opposition.
Afghanistan set to get a huge lead in the second innings as they patiently batted Bangladesh out of the game. Ibrahim Zadran made 82, Afghan made his second fifty of the match, Zazai contributed 48 and Rashid made a quick 24 runs, as the visitors were bowled out for 260 runs, setting a target of 398 runs for Bangladesh.
This time Shakib picked three wickets, while Mehidy, Taijul, and Nayeem picked 2 wickets each.
Bangladesh just couldn’t get a start in their chase of 398 runs, as Afghanistan bowlers never let anyone settle in. Shadman Islam made 41 and Shakib made 44 and even rain helped them a lot, bringing an early end to the day four and eating up two sessions out of three on day five, leaving Afghanistan just around 17 overs to pick the remaining 4 wickets on the last day.
Rashid Khan starred with figures of 6/49 and 11 wickets in the match, while Zahir Khan picked 3/59, as Afghanistan recorded a historic victory over Bangladesh, their first win over someone ranked higher than them in ICC rankings.
Player of the Match Rashid Khan also became the first debutant Test captain to claim a 10 wicket match haul and also hit an individual fifty in an innings in the same Test match!
BRIEF SCORES:
AFG 342 (R SHAH 102, A AFGHAN 92; T ISLAM 4/116) & 260 (I ZADRAN 82,A AFGHAN 50; S AL-HASAN 3/58) AND
BAN 205 (M HAQUE 52, M HOSSAIN 48; R KHAN 5/55) & 173 (S AL-HASAN 44, S ISLAM 41; R KHAN 6/49)
Afghanistan defeated Bangladesh by 224 runs.
