Bangladesh tightened their grip on the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi, reaching 337-6 in their second innings to establish a 443-run lead by the end of the fourth day’s first session.
Afghanistan’s fielding errors and poor use of reviews continued to undermine their efforts at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. They wasted three reviews when Bangladesh began their second innings on the third day, then gave Litton Das two reprieves on Monday morning.
Litton made full use of both chances, reaching 81 not out from 96 balls, including 11 fours. He also brought up his 22nd Test half-century and became Bangladesh’s fifth batter to score 9,000 international runs.
Bangladesh resumed on 72 overs for six wickets down. Within the first seven overs of the day, Litton had survived twice against leg-spinner Qais Ahmad.
On the final ball of the 75th over, Litton attempted to cut Qais and edged the ball towards the slips. Shahidullah Kamal failed to hold the catch with Litton on 14.
Four overs later, Litton offered another chance to Qais. Driving straight at the bowler in the 79th over, he saw the leg-spinner move to his right but fail to complete a caught-and-bowled opportunity. Litton was then on 26.
The Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batter capitalised, finding the boundary whenever Afghanistan offered him loose deliveries. The fielders also struggled to stop some shots despite diving efforts, while other deliveries narrowly missed Litton’s stumps.
Afghanistan thought they had another breakthrough when Mehidy Hasan Miraz attempted a slog sweep against Zia-ur-Rehman in the 95th over. A fielder in the slips dived to take the edge, but the umpire turned down the appeal. Replays showed the ball had touched the top of Miraz’s glove.
Litton and Miraz had added 114 runs from 157 balls for the seventh wicket by the end of the session. Miraz was unbeaten on 38 as Bangladesh moved to 337-6 after 98 overs, extending their lead to 443 runs with four wickets still in hand.
