Sports Desk: Nahid Rana took five wickets following Najmul Hossain Shanto's 87 as Bangladesh beat Pakistan by 104 runs in the first Test on an absorbing fifth day at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday.
Chasing 268, Pakistan were all-out for 163 in 52.5 overs, as Nahid took 5-40 runs. This was Bangladesh's third straight win and first at home win against Pakistan, after clinching a 2-0 series win in 2024.
Bangladesh added 88 runs for the loss of six wickets in the morning session before declaring their second innings on 240, setting 268 runs for the visitors to win. Shanto, who equalled Mushfiqur Rahim's record of seven Test wins as a captain for Bangladesh, later said that they were confident after having a 267-run lead.
'We knew that 270-plus would be a good score here. When we finished on 267, we had that confidence that we could clinch the match from there,' said Shanto.
Shanto, after scoring a hundred in the first innings, missed out on his third twin hundred by 13 runs when his attempted reverse sweep against Noman Ali failed. The southpaw, who had been executing sweep and reverse sweep well until that point, was trapped lbw after hitting seven boundaries in his 87-run knock.
While Litton Das couldn't get in the zone, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taskin Ahmed hit four fours and two sixes combined to give Tigers a boost.
Taskin helped Bangladesh end the session on a high when he had Imam-ul-Haq in the first over of the innings, as the Pakistan left-hander was caught behind off a beautiful angling delivery. With two debutants for Pakistan, Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal, going well, Mehidy gave Bangladesh the breakthrough by removing Awais.
The off-spinner could have had Abdullah in the same over, but the bail didn't dislodge from the groove despite the ball hitting it. Nahid got rid of Pakistan skipper Shan Masood before Abdullah and Salman Ali Agha added 51 runs for the fourth wicket to steady the ship for the visitors.
Abdullah made his second fifty of the match before getting trapped in front by Taijul Islam as Bangladesh got the wicket, challenging the umpire's decision. Bangladesh had another in the next over as Taskin had Salman caught at slip by Shadman Islam. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena gave Mohammad Rizwan lbw on the next delivery, but the decision was reversed by DRS.
Pakistan were in a 'draw's the best choice' territory, while Bangladesh were searching for another breakthrough from then on. Nahid broke a stubborn partnership between Rizwan and Saud Shakeel by removing the latter which provided the Tigers with another opening. In the next over, Nahid went through Rizwan, who decided to leave a 146.2 kph angling delivery and paid the heavy price, as Bangladesh closed in on victory. Taijul had Hasan Ali, before Nahid had Noman and Shaheen Shah Afridi, to complete his second five-for in Test cricket and a memorable Bangladesh victory.
Pakistan skipper Masood admitted that they should've read the game situation better.
'Look, I think we were in a good position at tea. After that we lost some wickets, and in terms of game sense, I thought that's where a few of the batsmen could have really realised that we're a bit away from the target and it's better to sort of keep ourselves in the game,' Masood said after the match. 'I thought we just lost wickets at the wrong time, and we could have made better cricketing decisions.'
Subject : Sports

বুধবার, ১৩ মে ২০২৬
Publish Date : 13 May 2026

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