Price of poor fielding, memorable draw of Afghanistan against Bangladesh

Afghanistan has managed a memorable draw against Bangladesh by building a strong resistance even after losing 8 wickets. Bangladesh needed 7 wickets on the last day for the victory. But the hosts could not fulfil that target due to poor fielding.

Afghanistan scored 346 runs for 8 wickets in the second innings after starting to chase the target of 479 runs given by Bangladesh on the last day of the only Test. The hope of victory of Bangladesh had risen after Sedikullah Atal was out in the last session of the day. But both the teams had to leave the field with a draw due to the firmness of Qais Ahmed at the end.

Qais Ahmed is one of the main heroes of the resistance of Afghanistan at the end. He had given a catch off the ball of Hasan Mahmud with 8 overs remaining. But Hasan could not take that catch. Bangladesh also could not utilise two run-out opportunities before this. Finally Qais remained unbeaten on 49 runs. Zia ur Rahman stayed with him at the wicket.

Afghanistan had started the play with 132 runs for 3 wickets on the last day. They kept the bowlers of Bangladesh restricted by batting for 142 overs throughout the day. Sedikullah Atal guarded one end for almost three sessions. He scored 111 runs by playing 332 balls before being out off the ball of Taijul Islam.

Hashmatullah Shahidi and Ikram Alikhil gave good company to Atal. Shahidi scored 36 runs and 33 runs came from the bat of Ikram. Ismat Alam scored 4 runs.

The possibility of the victory of Bangladesh increased after Atal returned in the last session. Later Mehidy Hasan Miraz got Yamain Ahmadzai out. But Afghanistan did not give up even after the fall of the eighth wicket. Qais and Zia ur Rahman ensured the draw by remaining at the wicket till the end.

Ebadot Hossain took 3 wickets for 50 runs in the second innings for Bangladesh. Mehidy Hasan Miraz got 3 wickets for 73 runs. Hasan Mahmud and Taijul Islam took one wicket each.