Najmul Hossain Shanto palying a shot. COURTESY
Najmul Hossain Shanto struck his maiden Test ton for Bangladesh in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Kandy on the first day of the first test match on Wednesday.
Tamim Iqbal missed out on a ton during his fluent innings and Shanto, who was dropped on 28 by wicketkeeper Dimuth Karunaratne, made his chance count. After Bangladesh had lost Saif Hassan early, Tamim took the lead in terms of putting the pressure back on the bowlers while Shanto watchfully built his innings. Tamim departed for 90 off 101 deliveries in the second session after a 144-run partnership with Shanto. His dismissal had no similarity to the rest of his innings, as he gave easy catching practice to the lone slip fielder off Vishwa Fernando, to become the left-arm pacer's second victim of the day. Tamim merely guided a delivery outside the off stump that could have easily been left alone, perhaps a reminder that batting out there had been particularly easy for the left-hander and the resultant loss of focus brought out a nonchalant and unwise shot.
Mominul looked calm and composed unbeaten on 64 runs on 150 deliveries, Shanto, whose previous career-best score of 71 came against Zimbabwe last year, was unbeaten on 126 runs of 288 deliveries. They will start today’s first session.
0 Comments