Bangladesh batter Najmul Hossain scored a brisk century in the first day of their one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday to put his team on a vantage position.
The left-handed batter made 146 runs off 175 balls and put up a big partnership of 212 runs with young opener Mahmudul Hasan to help Bangladesh reach 362-5 at stumps.
Thanks to the partnership of Najmul and Mahmudul, who scored 76, Bangladesh were at a stage on 218-1 and looked to set a mammoth total but visitors pulled off things a little bit early in the final session.
Some careless shots from Bangladesh batters and spirited bowling from Afghans saw Bangladesh reduced to 290-5 but experienced batter Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan formed a stubborn stand to see off the day. Afghan bowlers, who looked sloppy and extremely indiscipline most of the day, could bowl only 79 overs instead of 90 despite having consumed an extra half an hour.
Earlier on the day Afghan bowler Nijat Masood had a dream start in his Test career as he got rid of opener Zakir Hasan in his very first delivery. Zakir got out for one as the score was 6-1 in 1.1 overs and the decision of Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi of bowling first seemed a good one.
But Najmul started attacking against the wayward bowling of the visitors’ picking boundaries in almost every other over while Mahmudul helped him forge a lethal stand by remaining solid.
Najmul, who seems to be in the form of his life across the formats, was aggressive both against pacers and spinners to reach his third Test ton with the aid of 18 boundaries.
Afghan bowlers not only bowled with poor line and length but also conceded a lot of no balls (15) as Bangladeshi pairs seemed to bat as long as they wished.
But Mahmudul played a sloppy shot off occasional leg-spinner Rahmat Shah when his attempted cut found an edge through to Ibrahim Zadran at slip.
Despite the wicket bowling continued to be flat and new batter Mominul Haque seemed well settled but former Bangladesh skipper nicked a ball off Masood which was going down the leg to be caught by wicketkeeper Zazai for 15.
Najmul got a reprieve as he was bowled by Masood but the replay showed the bowler overstepped when he was 143 in the 55th over but three overs later he lost his patience under scorching sun and stepped down against leg spinner Amir Hamza to be holed on in the long on by Nasir Jamal.
Liton Das, who is captaining the Test side for the first time, looked nervous and threw away his wicket when he tried for a mistimed drive against and innocuous delivery of chinaman bowler Zahir Khan to be caught behind for just nine.