Il Nuovo Postiglione - Bangladesh declare with mammoth 661-run lead in Afghanistan Test

Najmul Hossain became only the second Bangladeshi to score a century in each innings of a Test match, making 124 to go with his first innings score of 146.

Mominul, the other Bangladeshi to achieve that feat, was unbeaten on 121 alongside skipper Liton Das on 66, when the declaration was made an hour into the third session on day three.

It was the 12th Test century for Mominul, the highest by any Bangladeshi, which came off 123 balls after a barren 26 innings.

The left-hander smashed 12 fours and a six in his 145-ball innings.

Afghanistan toiled but could only take three wickets in two sessions, including two wickets in the same over off leg-spinner Zahir Khan.

Zahir ended the prolific innings of Najmul, who gave a catch to Abdul Malik at short midwicket, ending his 151-ball knock with 15 boundaries.

Mushfiqur Rahim hit a six soon after coming to the crease but an attempted reverse sweep on the next ball brought his downfall for eight as Ibrahim Zadran took the catch at slip.

Mominul and Liton then frustrated Afghanistan with an unbroken 143-run fifth-wicket stand.

Resuming at 134-1 overnight, Najmul and Zakir Hasan batted with confidence before Afghanistan got an unexpected breakthrough against the run of play.

The duo made 173 runs before Zakir was run out for 71.

An edge from the bat of Najmul raced to the boundary line, where Nasir Jamal stopped the ball and relayed it to Ibrahim.

Ibrahim's direct hit found Zakir well short while running for his third, ending their free-flowing partnership.

Zakir scored his second 50 in just his third Test.

Bangladesh scored 382 runs in the first innings and bowled out Afghanistan for 146.

Afghanistan won the only other Test between the two teams when they beat Bangladesh by 224 runs at Chittagong in 2019.

E.Danieli--INP