Bangladesh set for fifth day push to clinch Afghan Test

Bangladesh ended the fourth day in pole position, as they need seven more wickets on the fifth and final day to seal the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE on Monday.

After setting a target of 479, Bangladesh have reduced Afghanistan to 132-3 at stumps, with pacers Ebadot Hossain and Hasan Mahmud claiming two and one wicket respectively.

Opener Sediqullah Atal and Hasmatullah Shahidi will resume the Afghan resistance on Day 5, unbeaten on 35 and 19 respectively, still 347 runs away from an improbable victory.

Earlier in the day, overnight batters Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz strengthened Bangladesh’s grip on the match, as their 149-run seventh-wicket partnership helped their side declare on 372-7 in the second innings.

Litton rode his luck, getting dropped twice on his way to his seventh Test ton while Miraz made a well-composed 52 not out.

The partnership ended in the second session, when Litton, who made 102 off 117 deliveries with the help of 14 fours, got caught behind while attempting a pull shot against pacer Mohammad Saleem.

Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto immediately declared the innings and his pace duo of Hasan and Ebadot, who had shared nine wickets in the first innings, took little time to get into their acts, striking once each to reduce Afghanistan to 28-2.

First innings’ centurion Rahmat Shah then steadied the innings with a dogged 82-run stand off 214 balls alongside Sediqullah.

The Afghan skipper’s resistance ended after 124 deliveries, when he nicked a seaming delivery from Ebadot to the keeper after making 51.

Sediqullah and Shahidi saw off the rest of the overs to take the contest into the fifth day.