Bangladesh batsman Najmul Hossain Shanto believes that if Mushfiqur Rahim and Mehidy Hasan Miraz can expand their innings further it will help them overcome the damages they suffered on the opening day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.

He also claimed that, still, they are not in a bad position in the tie.

Host Bangladesh were limited to 362-5 at stumps on the first day of the tie at their backyard, where Mushfiqur and Miraz stood on 41 and 43 runs, respectively.

‘The way Mushfiq Bhai and Miraz are batting, I feel that it would aid us to think that the couple of wickets we lost wouldn’t affect us,’ said Shanto in Mirpur after the day one play.

Shanto, who struck his third Test hundred against the visitors, eventually finished with 146; however, he acknowledged that he is not lamenting not to enlarge his innings.

‘No, I am not lamenting. I am happy whatever happened.’

He further admitted that it was not easy to bat against Afghanistan's bowling attack.

‘To me, it was not easy. I just wanted to implement the planning that I initiated. I had a clear mindset about what I wanted to do.’

‘You might think that it was pretty easy to bat, but it was really onerous to me.’

Earlier of this century, Shanto hit two more Test hundreds, but all of them were overseas.

Among them, 163  came against the host Sri Lanka in April 2021, followed by the next [not out of 117] in Zimbabwe in July 2021.

However, his third ton came at home, which made him feel special.

‘Hitting a hundred in Test is of course something special, and when it is on home soil, no doubt it is something exceptional.’