'Happy with way I batted': Centurion Najmul Shanto on Bangladesh's historic win

Bangladesh batsman Najmul Shanto was overjoyed with his batting against Afghanistan in the oneoff test after his side clinched the biggest victory of the decade of 546 runsFor the record Najmul smashed a hundred in the first innings of the match scoring 146 off 175 ballsI am really happy with the way I batted We himself and Mominul were talking about the record after I got to the hundred he Mominul said welcome to the group It is a good opportunity for the batters to bat on such a wicket and happy to see the bowlers bowl well As a player we have to perform in all the formats and I was clear with my plans Najmul told the reportersThis was Bangladeshs third biggest victory in test cricket history in terms of runs and Bangladesh appeared to do it easilyFast bowler Taskin Ahmed claimed careerbest figures of 437 as Afghanistan was dismissed for 115 on Day 4 after being set a daunting target of 662 Najmul Hossain helped the hosts set the tone for the victory with hundreds in each innings becoming the second Bangladesh batter to achieve that milestoneBangladeshs biggest previous win was by 226 runs against Zimbabwe in 2005 The margin in Mirpur was lower only than Englands 675run win over Australia in 1928 and Australias 562run win over England at The Oval in 1934Bangladeshs pace attack dominated at the ground which has tended to assist spin in the past As well as the wickets tumbling Afghanistan had to deal with two batters being unable to continue their innings after being hit by rising deliveries including last batter Zahir KhanTaskin led the threepronged pace attack a rarity for Bangladesh at home which claimed 14 wickets in the matchBangladesh broke through in the third over on Day 4 when Nasir Jamal nicked to the wicketkeeper as fast bowler Ebadot Hossain 122 straightened one off the pitch to take the outside edge Nasir added just one to his overnight tally to be out on 6Amid the resistance of Rahmat Shah who made a teamhigh 30 Bangladeshs fast bowlers kept striking with leftarm paceman Shoriful Islam getting a double breakthrough in consecutive oversAlso Read Bangladesh vanquishes Afghanistan by 546 runs to register its biggestever Test victoryShoriful who returned figures of 328 had Afsar Zazai 6 caught at gully with a shortlength delivery and then dismissed Bahir Shah 7 who was substituted in when skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi 13 was unable to continue after being hit by a Taskin bouncer on Day 3Taskin then got into the act breaking the defense of Rahmat who was caught behind with Afghanistan on 916He also got the better of Karim Janat 18 and Yamin Ahmadzai 1 to stand on the brink of his first fivewicket haul in an innings but drama unfolded as last batter Zahir Khan survived twice in consecutive deliveriesFirstly he survived an appeal for caught behind when DRS showed no evidence of an edge and then the next delivery rattled his stumps but was called a noballTwo balls later he was hit on the elbow while trying to duck a short ball and had to retire hurtBangladesh was dismissed for 382 runs in its first innings after a counterattacking 146 by Najmul The hosts decided against enforcing the followon when Afghanistan playing its first test since 2021 was dismissed for 146 in replyNajmul posted 124 in the second innings making him the second Bangladeshi batter to hit centuries in each innings of a test Mominul Haque ended a twoyear century drought with 121 not out helping his side reach 4254 before declaring and setting Afghanistan an improbable 662run targetThe teams will play three ODIs and two T20s in the next monthWith agency inputs