On the first day of the one-off cricket match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which took place at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh’s top-order batsman Najmul Hossain Shanto scored his third century in the format of the Test match.
In the 38th over of the match, the left-handed batter achieved the three-figure milestone by playing an Amir Hamza delivery with soft hands and stealing a fast single. This brought the total number of deliveries he faced to 118.Shanto, who has not been afraid to play his shots, has hit 18 fours so far and is still undefeated with 100. After 38 overs and the loss of one wicket, Bangladesh achieved their target score of 185.
Shanto also contributed to an undefeated second-wicket partnership of 175 runs with opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who also reached his third Test fifty during the match. Joy has not yet been defeated, and she has 61 runs off 131 deliveries.
Shanto was optimistic from the very beginning of his turn at bat, despite the fact that Bangladesh had already lost their opener Zakir Hasan in the second over of their innings. He made effective use of his feet against the Afghan spinners, preventing them from getting into a rhythm that they could settle into.
Both Shanto and Joy were outstanding in their performance against the left-arm wrist spinner of Afghanistan, Zahir Khan, who allowed more than seven runs for every over he bowled. In particular, Shanto was dominant against Zahir, as he smashed the leggie for four boundaries throughout the course of his five overs.
Shanto hit several magnificent straight drives, the most eye-pleasing of which came in the second session when he drove rookie Karim Janat down the ground to go into the nineties. Shanto also played some other straight drives that were almost as impressive.
Shanto seized on everything that was short in order to drag it for limits square of the ground. And anything that was square.