Najmul Hossain Shanto registered his maiden Test ton on Wednesday as Bangladesh took control of the Kandy Test against Sri Lanka.
At stumps of Day 1, the Tigers had amassed 302 for two wickets. Najmul and Mominul Haque were unbeaten for 126 and 64 respectively. Najmul hit 14 fours and one six while Mominul scored six fours.
Bangladesh skipper Mominul won the toss and opted to bat first. The decision proved to be right losing Saif Hassan cheaply.
After Saif’s dismissal, Najmul came and batted with great discipline throughout the entire day. He had a great partnership with Tamim for the second wicket to posting 144 runs together.
Najmul accompanied Mominul in the third wicket stand, which was impregnable at the end of the day, to add 150 runs. It is now the highest third-wicket partnership for Bangladesh in away Tests. They still have a good chance to make it even bigger.
In the previous six Tests, Najmul scored 241 runs with one fifty. He was in dire need to prove his mettle in the longer version of international cricket. The 22-year-old batsman has finally come forward and recorded his maiden Test ton.
Tamim smashed two fours off the first over of the match bowled by Suranga Lakmal, which was a hint of his fiery batting display on day one. The left-handed opener ended up on 90 off 101 delivers with 15 fours. The southpaw had a good chance to hit a century or even bigger innings but missed it out.
Tamim has been in great touch throughout his innings but fell prey to an ordinary shot off Vishwa Fernando. It was a bit of extra bounce and Tamim ended up steering it into the hands of the only slip fielder.
For Sri Lanka, Fernando was the only bowler to get wickets on day one while Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Kumara and Dhananjaya de Silva bowled 18, 19 and 16 overs respectively but failed to produce a good result.
Brief score after day one:
Bangladesh 1st innings 302/2 in 90 overs (Najmul 126*, Tamim 90, Mominul 64*) Vishwa Fernando 2/61, Suranga Lakmal 0/55
