Shanto half-century leads Bangladesh to 116-1 at lunch

 Bangladesh made a steady start to the one-off Test against Afghanistan, thanks to a half-century of Najmul Hossain Shanto, reaching 116-1 at lunch on day one at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium today.

Shanto who excelled in ODI and T20 format, shrugging off his inconsistency, found his much-needed consistency in longer version format too as he was batting on 64 at the first interval.

Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy, playing his first Test, since June last year, also looked untroubled and was batting on 38.

But Bangladesh made a forgettable start after Afghan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi sent them into batting.

Pace bowler Nijatullah Masood had Zakir Hasan for 1 caught by wicket-keeper Afsar Zazai, making him the first Afghan bowler to claim the wicket in the first delivery of debut test.

The delivery from Masood in the second over, shaped across Zakir but the umpire remained unmoved. The replays revealed that the ball took the feintest nick off the bat before going through to wicket-keeper.

By doing so, Masood became the 22nd bowler in the world to achieve the feat.

Shanto however counterattacked, epitomizing Bangladesh’s ambition to play aggressive brand of cricket and it paid off handsomely.

He punished anything short as he struck 11 boundaries in his almost chanceless knock. The left-hand batter raised his fourth test fifty off 58 balls, pulling a short delivery off left-arm wrist spinner behind backward square leg for four.

Mahmudul, who hit six boundaries in his knock was patient during his knock as Bangladesh remained untroubled in the first session of the day.