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Afghanistan players toiled hard in hot and humid conditions of Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka on Day 1 of the only Test against Bangladesh. In the second session of the day’s play, Afghanistan bowlers were struggling to break the partnership between Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mahmudul Hasan Joy.
In the 35th over of the innings, Joy went on the back foot and guided the ball behind point for a couple of runs. Then, overthrow gifted him a couple more runs as even two fielders backing up could not catch hold of the ball. In total, five runs were scored off the last ball of Zahir’s over.
“This is a comedy of errors. This is unbelievable. That's throwing the ball all over the place. Noone's backing up,” the commentator said.
Meanwhile, Joy got to his half-century from 102 deliveries. He needed two runs to get to the milestone but ran three extra runs behind the wickets due to sloppy fielding by visiting side.
The two batters shared a 212-run partnership for the second wicket. Shanto scored 146 runs from 175 deliveries including 23 fours and two sixes. He was dismissed by Amir Hamza. Opener Joy scored 76 runs from 137 balls including nine fours. He lost his wicket to part-time spinner Rahmat Shah.
Bangladesh posted 362/5 on Day 1 with Mushfiqur Rahim (41) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (43) dominating Afghanistan bowlers.
“I don't think we had batted in such hot and humid condition earlier but again it's something that was not in our control. What was in our control, we tried to do it perfectly and I believe we are in good position,” Najmul said. “I enjoyed the way Mahmudul negotiated the new ball. He gave us the momentum.”
Afghanistan coach Jonathan Trott was critical of his bowlers' performance as they conceded runs at over four and a half runs per over.
“I don't think we bowled as well as we should have," Trott said. "I think there's a bit in the wicket. We saw that when we got the ball in the right areas consistently for long enough, we created chances.”
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