Bangladesh missed the opportunity to wrest complete control of the one-off Test, reaching 317-8 at stumps on Day 1 against Afghanistan at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on Friday.

Openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Shadman Islam scored half-centuries, the former racing to 83 off 71 balls and the latter compiling 67 off 111, while Litton Das made 53 off 89 to rescue the innings after losing three wickets for four runs in the second session.

Pacer Mohammad Saleem took three wickets while Ismat Ali and Yamin Ahmadzai claimed two wickets each as the Afghans did well to peg back Bangladesh after losing the toss and being sent to bowl under the scorching sun.

Tanzid gave Bangladesh a flying start, hitting eight fours and four sixes in an enterprising knock, but missed out on a deserved century, nicking a loose delivery from medium pacer Ismat to the wicketkeeper.

Despite his dismissal, the first session belonged to Bangladesh, as they reached 134-1.

But after lunch, Afghanistan fought back, with Yamin striking twice to reduce Bangladesh to 225-5.

After the Tea break, Litton and Mehidy Hasan Miraz strung together a 62-run partnership for the seventh wicket to steady the innings.

Miraz fell for 24, bowled by Ismat, while Litton broke his string of low scores with a timely half-century and took the score past the 300-run mark.

Litton’s resistance ended late in the day when he tried to pull a short delivery from Saleem, only for Ahmadzai to complete a tumbling catch at deep square.

Saleem took his third wicket of the day by going through Hasan Mahmud’s defences as the first day ended with Afghans the happier of the two sides.