After entertaining with a maiden half-century during the course of which he brought out a Steven Smith-like leave, much to the amusement of his team-mates, Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan scythed through Bangladesh's top order. His three wickets left Bangladesh on 88 for 5, possibly even staring at a follow-on, however unlikely, at tea on the third day of the one-off Test in Chottogram, report Cricinfo.
The body blows were dealt minutes before tea when they lost Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur in quick succession. The Bangladesh captain was out to a fizzing legbreak that pinned him plumb in front as he prodded forward, only to be beaten by sharp turn. One ball later, Mushfiqur inside-edged the ball onto his boot, as short leg snapped up a straightforward catch for a two-ball duck. Lucky to be reprieved after Afghanistan failed to review an lbw call, Mominul Haque was unbeaten pm 27, but will need to do a bulk of the scoring with the lower order for company.
It didn't look that dire for Bangladesh early in the second session, though. For the first 15 overs, Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das appeared to have settled in as they batted out of character to frustrate the spinners. But this didn't last long as Soumya's misjudgment in length to a skiddy delivery from Mohammad Nabi trapped him lbw. This broke the deadlock.
Liton, who batted a little more positively, misread Rashid's quicker ball and was plumb in front after being beaten on the pull shot. He made 33 off 6 after surviving a review in the sixth over. He was also reprieved in the 17th over when Afghanistan failed to review a close lbw shout. In the four overs before lunch, Shadman Islam became the first victim to a seamer in this match as Yamin Ahmadzai had him nicking to the wicketkeeper.
The morning began with Asghar Afghan having a chance to become Afghanistan's second Test centurion, but that wasn't to be as he fell eight short, while going for a slog sweep. Afghanistan also lost the wickets of Afsar Zazai and Qais Ahmed to totter briefly, before being bailed out by Rashid's enterprising knock that fetched him three sixes and two fours.