Ebadot joins pace fest as Bangladesh regain upper hand in eight-wicket session

Afghanistan 35 for 3 (Malik 17, Ebadot 2-15, Shoriful 1-6) trail Bangladesh 382 (Shanto 146, Joy 76, Masood 5-79) by 347 runs

Afghanistan, however, started off with a reprieve in the second over. Captain-wicketkeeper Litton Das dropped Ibrahim on one. Litton dived full-length in front of Mahmudul Hasan Joy at first slip but couldn’t hold on to the ball. But Shoriful got his man in the sixth over when Zadran offered an easier chance to Litton, gone for six.

Next over, Ebadot got one to bounce at Abdul Malik to hand Zakir Hasan a catch at third slip. Zakir had to dive forward to take a clean catch to send Malik back for 17. Rahmat gave a simple catch to Taskin Ahmed at mid-on at the stroke of lunch, with a shot that was caught between a flick and pull.

Afghanistan’s three wickets took some of the sheen of their fast bowlers’ work in the morning. They had wrapped up Bangladesh’s first innings in 45 minutes on the second morning. Yamin Ahmadzai and Masood took the last five wickets in 4.5 overs.

The collapse started when Ahmadzai got Mehidy Hasan Miraz to drive away from his body, half-heartedly, as Amir Hamza took a tumbling catch at gully. Mehidy made 48 off 80 balls with eight fours. Masood then got the new ball to jump into Mushfiqur Rahim’s face, with the experienced batter only good enough to fend it to second slip. Nasir Jamal took the simple catch, as Mushfiqur also missed out on a fifty by three runs. He struck four boundaries in his 76-ball stay.

Any hope of the tail-enders’ resistance ended in two balls when Masood got Taijul Islam caught at short leg second ball. Malik held a good catch as Masood took two in one over. Ahmadzai followed it up with Taskin’s wicket, trapping him lbw. Masood wrapped up his five-for emphatically, uprooting Shoriful Islam’s off-stump.

Bangladesh’s dominance on the first day underlined their slump on the second morning. Najmul Hossain Shanto’s 146 carried the home team to 362 for five by stumps, at 4.58 per over, a rarity for this side. Shanto struck 23 fours and two sixes in his 175-ball stay, an attractive and attacking innings.

He added 212 runs with Mahmudul Hasan Joy who played his second fiddle with 76 runs. Part-timer Rahmat got rid of him with a long-hop, with Ibrahim Zadran catching it brilliantly at slip. Shanto and Joy dominated the Afghanistan bowlers, but once their partnership ended, the visitors struck back.

Masood removed Mominul Haque with a tickle down the leg side for 15. Zahir Khan, mostly inconsistent with his length, got a wrong’un to remove Litton, for nine. Afghanistan were generally quite sloppy in the field. They bowled plenty of no-balls including Shanto bowled off a no-ball. There were also several wides, some misfields and overthrows throughout the day. But they turned things around on the second morning.