• Home
  • Match Hub
  • Ban Vs Afg 2023 Shanto Mominul Centuries Help Ban Set 662 Run Target For Afg On Day 3

BAN vs AFG 2023 | Shanto, Mominul Centuries Help BAN Set 662-Run Target for AFG On Day 3

image-liyh531pMominul Haque cuts one away on Day 3 (Twitter)

Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mominul Haque completed imperative centuries on Day 3 of their one-off Test against Afghanistan. Their commanding knocks, coupled with captain Litton Das’ sparkling half-century and a huge first-innings lead has helped Bangladesh set a monumental 662-run target for the visitors.

Shanto, Haque and Das extends lead to 661

Najmul Hossain Shanto added another 57 runs with overnight partner Zakir Hasan, to take their second-wicket stand to 173. Their attacking partnership came to an end after Hasan was ran out for 71 by a trio of Afghan fielders.

Meanwhile, Shanto found a new partner in number four Mominul Haque, during which the 24-year-old scored his second century of the match, his third since last month and the fourth of his 22-match Test career.

He scored his runs at a similar clip as his first-innings effort, by maintaining a strike-rate of above 80 in both his centuries. Remarkably, Shanto became only the second batter in Bangladesh Test history to register twin hundreds in a single match.

Haque also brought up his ton, the 12th of his career, while captain Litton Das whacked an unbeaten 81-ball 66 to stretch Bangladesh’ lead to a remarkable 661.

Among Afghanistan bowlers, Zahir Khan and Amir Hamza were the only wicket-takers from the innings, and both sustained expensive spells as Bangladesh scored runs at 5.31 an over.

Afghanistan lose both openers before stumps

Afghanistan suffered the worst of starts to their innings, while facing one of the biggest targets ever set in Test cricket. Chasing a colossal 662, the visitors lost opener Ibrahim Zadran off the first ball courtesy of an in-swinging yorker from Bangladesh pacer Shoriful Islam.

His new-ball partner Taskin Ahmed also struck in his opening over, by dismissing Abdul Malik for five.

Rahmat Shah and number five Nasir Jamal batted through the remaining overs to safely guide Afghanistan to 45-2, still 617 runs away from their target with two full days of play still left in the game.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh: 382 all out (86)
Najmul Hossain Shanto 146 (175), Mahmudul Hasan Joy 76 (137)
Nijat Masood 5-79 (16), Yamin Ahmadzai 2-39 (10)

Afghanistan: 146 all out (39)
Afsar Zazai 36 (40), Nasir Jamal 35 (43)
Ebadot Hossain 4-47 (10), Taijul Islam 2-7 (5)

Bangladesh: 425-4d (80)
Najmul Hossain Shanto 124 (151), Mominul Haque 121* (145)
Zahir Khan 2-112 (23), Amir Hamza 1-90 (16.1)

Afghanistan: 45-2 (11)
Hashmatullah Shahidi 13 (14), Rahmat Shah 10* (32)
Shoriful Islam 1-6 (4), Taskin Ahmed 1-28 (4)

Afghanistan requires another 617 runs to win