• Friday, March 29, 2024

CRICKET

Spinners strike as Bangladesh dent Afghanistan

Photo courtesy: twitter/Afghanistan Cricket Board

By: LakshmiPS

Taijul Islam removed the openers while Mahmudullah picked a wicket at the stroke of lunch as Bangladesh restricted Afghanistan to 77-3 in the first session of the one-off Test on Thursday.

Taijul bowled opener Ihsanullah Janat for nine and became the fastest Bangladeshi bowler to reach 100 Test wickets after Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan won the toss and elected to bat in Chittagong.

Left-arm spinner Taijul also became the third Bangladeshi bowler after Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Rafique to achieve such a feat in the longer-format in his 25th match.

He dismissed Ibrahim Zadran for 21, tempting the debutant to give a catch to Mahmudullah at long-off after he faced 69 balls and struck three boundaries.

Off-spinner Mahmudullah delivered when he forced Hashmatullah Shahidi to give a catch to Soumya Sarkar at slip for 14 in his first over and lunch was taken immediately.

Experienced Rahmat Shah was batting on 31 at the break.

Shah showed a rare sign of aggression when he dispatched Shakib over long on for the only six of the morning.

Bangladesh fielded an all-spin attack without picking a single pace bowler while Afghanistan handed a Test debut to Ibrahim, Qais Ahmed and Zahir Khan.

Rashid became the youngest ever Test captain at the age of 20 years 350 days with the toss, overtaking the record of Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu, who made his debut as Test captain just eight days older than Rashid in 2004.

The Chittagong Test is the third five-day match for Afghanistan since they received Test status in 2017 and the first against Bangladesh.

(AFP)

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