Mominul, Shanto tons give record-breaking Tigers complete control

For years, Bangladesh have been on the receiving end of such dominance in Test cricket. Opposition setting records left and right and batting for the whole day even though the target is way beyond their limit, Bangladesh are familiar with these situations. But now, the tables have turned. 

Bangladesh broke a number of batting records on Friday on their way to setting up a record 662-run target for Afghanistan. They declared on 425/4 which they accumulated in 80 overs at a run rate of 5.31, the highest-ever in the third innings of Test cricket's history. 662 is the highest target set by Bangladesh in Test cricket, the previous best was 477 against Zimbabwe in 2021.

Bangladesh's team aggregate of 807 runs in the match is also the highest in Mirpur in Tests.

Najmul Hossain Shanto's scintillating batting has been the talk of the town for a while. He continued his blistering form and notched up yet another hundred on Friday. And he became only the second Bangladeshi to score back-to-back Test hundreds for Bangladesh. The first one was Mominul Haque, who was at the other end to congratulate Shanto on this incredible milestone. 

Shanto's 124-run innings saw him hitting 15 boundaries. He hit 23 boundaries in the first innings which took his boundary aggerate in the match to 38, the highest for Bangladesh. 

Mominul scored a Test hundred, after 25 months and 13 matches. He finally broke his deadlock and remained unbeaten on 121. 

Bangladesh picked up two Afghan wickets in the afternoon session for 45 runs, which means the visitors still need a mammoth 617 runs to win the match. Fair to say, that's an almost impossible task for Afghanistan who are playing Test cricket after 27 months. 

But the Tigers are on the brink of something very special. If they can manage to bundle Afghanistan before 169 runs, they will record the biggest win by runs in the 21st century. 

One may say it's just Afghanistan, but Bangladesh dominating like this in Test cricket is something absolutely new and exciting for fans at the same time. 

Bangladesh's day started very well with the bat despite Zakir Hasan missing his second Test hundred after he was run out for 71. His dismissal in the first hour of the day's play brought an end to a terrific 173-run partnership between Shanto and Zakir. 

Mominul and Shanto then built an 83-run partnership for the third wicket as they saw off the rest of the first session. But Shanto departed soon after lunch and Mushfiqur Rahim followed him in the same over trying to play a reverse sweep. 

Skipper Liton Das then came on to bat. He and Mominul continued dominating the Afghan bowlers as they seemed helpless on the ground. They put up an unbeaten 143-run partnership before declaring the innings. 

Mominul remained unbeaten on 121 from 145 balls and Litton bagged 66 runs. 

Shoriful Islam didn't waste any time with the ball as Afghanistan had a mountain to climb. He picked up a wicket in the very first delivery of the innings and put Afghanistan even further back in the battle. Taskin Ahmed then followed suit and bagged his first wicket of the match in the second over. 

The visitors didn't lose any more wickets but their captain Hashmatullah Shahidi had to be taken off after he was hit on the head in the sixth over. Nasir Jamal and Rahmat Shah survived the rest of the day adding 19 more runs to the scoreboard.