Dhaka — After hitting his maiden Test half-century, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan inflicted heavy damage on the hosts, picking up four wickets on Day 2 at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. At the end of the day, Bangladesh are trailing by 148 runs with only two wickets in hand. Despite losing five wickets for 88 runs, the hosts ended the day on 194 for eight riding on the ninth wicket stand between Mosaddek Hossain Saikat and Taijul Islam who added 48 runs.
Mosaddek was batting at 44 off 74 and Taijul was unbeaten on 14 off 55. They will resume the innings on day three.
But it was Rashid’s day. He scalped Liton Das (33), Shakib Al Hasan (11), Mushfiqur Rahim (0) and Mahmudullah Riyad (7) in quick succession.
Bangladesh lost their first wicket Shadman Islam even before scoring a run as they started chasing Afghanistan’s first innings total of 342. Shadman’s wicket was taken by the only recognised pacer of this match, Yamin Ahmadzai.
After that initial blow, the onus was on Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das to lay down a good foundation. But Soumya got dismissed for 17 and Liton for 33.
Rashid started bowling during the 25th over. He got the wicket of Liton in the first over. In the span of 16 runs, he removed Shakib, Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah.
Mominul Haque, who hit a fifty, helped Bangladesh avoid follow-on. He got out for 52 off 71.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the last batsman to get dismissed. He added 11 runs off 31 balls, and right after that, Mosaddek and Taijul started the rescue act.
While Rashid bagged four wickets, Mohammad Nabi bagged two and Yamin and Qais Ahmed took one each for Afghanistan.
Earlier in the morning session on day two, Afghanistan batted for 21 overs and posted 71 runs losing their last five wickets and their first innings ended on 342 all-out.
Rahmat Shah (102), Asghar Afghan (92) and Rashid Khan (51) helped the team score their highest Test total. For Bangladesh, Taijul bagged four wickets while Shakib and Nayeem Hasan took two each.UNB
