Ice Cream Inspired Walton Group Test Match
Bangladesh VS Afghanistan Played at SBNCS, Dhaka
Brief Scorecard:
Bangladesh 1st Innings 362 All Out (Nazmul Hossain Shanto 146, Mahmudul Hasan Joy 76, Mehidy Hasan Miraj 48, Mushfiqur Rahim 47 , Nijhat Masood 5/ 79)
Bangladesh 2nd Innings 424/4 (Nazmul Hossain Shanto 124 , Mominul Haq 121* , Zakir Hasan 71 , Litton Kumar Das 66* )
Afghanistan 1st Innings 146 All Out (Afsar Zazai 36, Nasir Jamal 35, Karim Janat 23, Ebadat Hossain 4/ 47, Taijul Islam 2/7 , Mehidy Hasan Miraj 2/15 , Shoriful Islam 2/28)
Afghanistan 2nd innings 115 All Out (Rahmat Shah 30, Taskin Ahmed 4 /37, Shoriful Islam 3/28)
Bangladesh won by 546 runs at Lunch of Day four
Player of the Match: Nazmul Hasan Shanto
Winning the one-off test by record-setting 546 against Afghanistan, Bangladesh have taken a sweet revenge of their defeat in the only other test match they played against them.
Incidentally, this is the highest margin of test win in the twenty-first century and third all time. England holds the all time win by the highest margin of 675 runs against Australia in Brisbane in 1928. Australia also beat England by 562 runs at the Oval in 1934.
The fate of the Mirpur Test was well written at stumps of day one when Bangladesh put into bat after losing the toss raced to 362/5 riding on explosive 146 by flamboyant Nazmul Shanto and solid 212 second wicket partnership between Shanto and Joy.
Tourists Afghanistan bounced back with vengeance on the morning of day two taking the last five wickets of Bangladesh for 9 runs as debutant Nijhat Masood exploiting the pace, bounce ,suing and seam movement grabbed 5 wickets giving away 79 runs. However, all round Bangladesh attack crashed Afghans to 146 all out. Ebadat, Shoriful , Tajul and Miraj bowling at their best took the hell out of Afghan batting. Bangladesh not enforcing follow on batted second time. Again, Shanto batted superbly scoring his second century of the test 124 to be exact. He became the second Bangladeshi doing that after Mominul Haq achieving that feat against Sri Lanka at Chattogaram. Incidentally Mominul was at the other end batting with Shanto when he accomplished that feat. Mominul himself scored his 12-test century remaining not out at 121. This time Mahmudul Hasan Joy went early but Zakir Hasan was the partner of Shanto in mission Afghan hunting. He ran himself out scoring 71. When Litton declared the innings at 425/4, he was not out playing a breezy innings of 66. Bangladesh set an unassailable target of 662.
Wicket had pace, bounce and odd balls turned as well kept low. Survival against high quality pace attack of Bangladesh pace trio Taskin , Ebadat and Shoriful under scorching sun and wearing wicket required skill , guts and temperament. Unfortunately, visitors lacked all. They were bundled out for 115. There by Afghans lost the test by massive 546 runs. Taskin was a bit rusty in the first innings. But he bowled with pace and venom in the second innings taking 4/37. Shoriful also bowled exceedingly well grabbing 3/28. Afghans batted 39 overs in the first innings and only 33 in the second. The test turned out to be a total mismatch and a nightmare for the visitors.
The aggressive attitude of team tigers playing with a purpose must be admired. The strategy for playing on a green top aggressive wicket must also be appreciated. Bangladesh batted skillfully, bowled exceedingly well, and batted with passion. Winning a test without two key players Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal must have given tigers lot of confidence. Such win must give a big Philip to Bangladesh in their preparation for the next round of ICC Test Championship.
BDST: 1446 HRS, JUNE 17, 2023
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