Bangladesh keep mauling Afghanistan as Mominul eyes 12th ton at tea break

Bangladesh were 374 for four at the break and Mominul was batting on 95 on the third day of Test

Tea Bangladesg 382 and 378 for 4 (Shanto 124, Mominul 95*, Zahir 2-96) lead Afghanistan 146 by 614)

DHAKA – Bangladesh batsmen ruthlessly treated Afghan bowlers at tea break on the third day of the one-off Test on Friday as they increased lead beyond 600 with Mominul Haque nearing his 12th Test century.

Bangladesh were 374 for four at the break and Mominul was batting on 95 during the third day's second session. Bangladesh's lead rose to 614 but there was no sign of declaring as the Afghanistan bowlers took just two wickets in another one-sided session. Zahir Khan removed Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim in the same over, with the former hitting 124.

Shanto became the second Bangladeshi to score hundreds in both innings of a Test match, after Mominul, who made 176 and 105 against Sri Lanka in Chattogram in 2018.

Shanto's was a soft dismissal, when he picked up Zahir towards short midwicket where Abdul Malik took a simple catch. Shanto struck 15 fours in his 151-ball effort.

Mushfiqur got eight runs off his first two balls, including a slog-swept six off his second delivery. But he tried to reverse-sweep Zahir off the next delivery and gloved a catch to Ibrahim Zadran at slip.

Mominul, who began the session on 43, worked his way towards a big score having last made a century two years ago. The last one was his 127 against Sri Lanka in 2021. He struck most of his boundaries today through short third and midwicket, while hitting the odd straight four.

In the morning session, Shanto took couple of overs before he got going. But a straight drive off Nijat Masood, followed by two powerful pulls against Yamin Ahmadzai confirmed that he didn't change his tact. Zakir struck two fours in between, but Shanto dominated the Afghanistan attack. He struck two more fours to reach his fifty, before Zakir was run out in an unnecessary manner.

He called for a third run without properly seeing whether the throw was coming quickly from the deep, after Nasir Jamal saved the Shanto's shot around the third-man boundary. He relayed the throw to Ibrahim Zadran, whose throw found Zakir short at the striker's end.

Shanto reached his century within a few overs, celebrating in his leap-jump-lean routine. Mominul Haque, the only other Bangladeshi batter to score centuries in each innings of a Test, ran towards him for a hug.

Shanto and Zakir were not out on 54 off 64 balls, identically, at stumps on the second evening. They extended Bangladesh's 236-run lead quite rapidly, batting at 5.52 per over in that last session. - Courtesy