Shanto’s back-to-back tons help Bangladesh to gain biggest lead

Special Correspondent
Published: 03:06PM. 16 Jun 2023
Shanto’s back-to-back tons help Bangladesh to gain biggest lead

After Najmul Hossain Shanto struck successive two hundreds Mominul Haque is standing on the brink of his twelfth Test ton to earn Bangladesh's biggest 614-run lead at tea on the third day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Friday.

Earlier, Bangladesh secured 474 as their highest target against their Zimbabwe counterparts in 2021.

Shanto, who made 146 in the first innings, finished with 124, his fourth Test hundred, while Mominul and Liton Das remained unbeaten on 95 and 48 off 47 balls, respectively, to post 378-4 in the second innings, in response to the tourists 146 all-out in their first innings.

Thus, Shanto became the country’s second batsman to hit back-to-back hundreds in the longest version of cricket after Mominul Haque since 2018 in Chattogram.

Bangladesh were wrapped up for 382 all-out in their first innings.

The home side lost Shanto following the day’s lunch break as he gave a catch to Abdul Malik by Zahir Khan, sharing an 83-run stand with Mominul Haque.

Zahir then had Mushfiqur Rahim for 8 to shorten the hosts to 282-4.

Then, banking on Liton and Mominul’s untroubled 96-run partnership, Bangladesh gained their biggest target in red-ball cricket.

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