Shanto ton puts Tigers in control

Sports Desk News :: A century from skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto saw Bangladesh take control of their first Test against New Zealand in Sylhet as they ended the third day with a 205-run lead.

Bangladesh ended the day on 212-3, with Shanto unbeaten on 104 and Mushfiqur Rahim on 43.

Shanto’s century was a momentous one as he became the first Bangladesh skipper to hit triple figures on their captaincy debut.

He brought up triple figures in the final over of the day, pushing spinner Ajaz Patel for a single to mid-off. This is his third century in his last four Test innings, and fifth overall.

His 96-run stand with Mushfiq ensured that Bangladesh ended the day losing just three wickets.

Bangladesh started the final session of the day in control as both Shanto and Mominul were set at the crease, and it seemed like the only way New Zealand could find a wicket was if the batters manufactured one themselves.

And that is what happened. In the final ball of the 41st over, Mominul struck a delivery straight to mid on and started running without looking at the non-striker’s end.

Meanwhile, Shanto was also ball-watching, meaning he had no clue about Mominul running towards his end.

What the result was that Mominul had run almost two-third of the pitch, and by the time he tried to return, New Zealand wicketkeeper Tom Blundell had taken off the bails following a throw from Henry Nicholls.

However, after that, it was easy going for the Tigers as none of the New Zealand bowlers managed to threaten them, and Shanto, with Mushfiq, kept the flow of runs going.

Shanto reached fifty off 95 balls, and then took 97 more to reach his century. He was unbeaten on 104 off 193 balls, hitting 10 fours. His partner, Mushfiq, has scored 43 off 71 balls, hitting five boundaries.

Earlier in the day, New Zealand were bowled out for 317 in their first innings, which gave them a seven-run lead, which was quickly wiped out by the Tigers in the second innings.

Mominul Haque picked up both the New Zealand wickets this morning, finishing on three wickets for four runs, his best bowling figures in Test cricket. Taijul Islam picked up four wickets, while Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shoriful Islam, and Nayeem Hasan picked up one each.

Bangladesh started the day with the hopes of getting a first-innings lead as New Zealand were on 266-8, with Tim Southee (35) and Kyle Jamieson (23) at the crease.

However, that hope was soon extinguished by the Blackcaps duo as they settled in and comfortably ticked the scoreboard forward as the Bangladesh bowlers could not find a way through.

Bangladesh skipper Nazmul Hossain Shanto kept Taijul at one end and changed between Mehidy, Shoriful, and Nayeem at the other but none of the changes provided any results as the ninth wicket partnership reached 50 off 103 balls.

However, things changed following the drinks break after the first hour was completed. It was once again Mominul with the golden arm as he first trapped Jamieson LBW before castling Southee to end the New Zealand innings on 317.

Bangladesh started the second session on 19-0 but their openers could not last long as they were both gone within a span of 12 deliveries.

First, Ajaz Patel once again got Zakir as the left-handed batter, similar to his first innings dismissal, went on the backfoot but missed the sharply turning delivery, leading to him getting trapped LBW for 17.

In the next over, Joy was unlucky to lose his wicket at the non-striker’s end as bowler Tim Southee got his fingers on a straight drive from Shanto, which hit the stumps and the opener fell just short to return to the pavilion for eight off 46 deliveries.

However, from there on, Shanto and Mominul put a stop to the slide as Bangladesh built their lead.

Mominul survived a review appeal in the 19th over against Patel when he did not offer a shot to a delivery that turned sharply towards him. Umpire Ahsan Raza was unmoved, and a review from the Blackcaps showed that the ball was missing the stumps.

The duo reached their fifty partnership off just 62 balls as they took the attack to the New Zealand bowlers early on, and once they got in, they decided to be more cautious, especially with off-spinner Glenn Phillips, who picked up four wickets in the first innings and is a favourable matchup to two left-handers, in the attack.