Shanto, Joy give Bangladesh a good start

Najmul Hossain Shanto’s aggression and Mahmudul Hasan Joy’s caution helped Bangladesh recover from an early setback and reach 116-1 at lunch on the opening day of their one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Shanto completed his fourth Test half-century and is unbeaten on 64 off just 76 balls while Joy is batting on 38 off 70 balls.

Afghanistan’s debutant pacer Nijat Masood took the only wicket to fall in the session and that too in his very first ball in Test cricket.

Bangladesh suffered an early blow after being asked to bat first.

New opening pair of Zakir Hasan and Joy took the middle in the absence of Tamim Iqbal, who was ruled out on the day before the Test as his back injury resurfaced.

Zakir and Joy’s opening partnership lasted just seven balls before the former got caught behind with just one run to his name.

Nijat produced a faint outside edge against Zakir which went straight into the hands of wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai.

The on-field umpire had initially given it not out, but the TV umpire rightfully overturned the decision after a review from Afghanistan.

Zakir’s dismissal brought Shanto to the middle, who looked fluent from the get go.

Joy and Shanto then slowly but surely took Bangladesh to a position of power with contrasting approaches.

Shanto kept hitting flashy shots, many times in the air, while Joy continued showing a dead bat to the ball.

Both batters had some close calls, with Shanto almost getting caught a few times and Joy getting beaten around the outside edge by pacers Yamin Ahmadzai and Karim Janat on a few occasions, but both batters survived.

Shanto’s positive approach rubbed off on Joy as well as the session progressed, and the right-hander started hitting some boundaries.

The duo completed its hundred run partnership off 126 balls and made sure Bangladesh ended the session on a dominant position.