In only their third Test, Afghanistan got their first Test centurion as Rahmat Shah scored a sublime ton on day one of the one-off Test against Bangladesh at Chattogram.
Since being accorded the Test status in 2017, Afghanistan have played two one-off Tests—first against India that they lost, and a famous win against Ireland.
The right-handed batsman scored 102 before being dismissed by Nayeem Hasan. He came in to bat after opener Ihsanullah was dismissed for nine, and put on 120 runs for the fourth wicket with Asghar Afghan. He hit 10 fours and two sixes in the 187-ball knock.
Shah was named captain of the Afghan Test team earlier this year but was replaced with Rashid Khan after the ICC World Cup this year before the former can lead the team in a match. Khan, in fact, at 20 years and 350 days, became the youngest Test captain today, breaking a 15-year record held by former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu, who was eight days older when he led his side against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004.
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Shah, 26, had missed a ton by two runs, in Afghanistan’s last Test outing against Ireland earlier this year. In the second innings, he scored a vital 76 to take the Afghans to their first Test victory.
He has represented Afghanistan in 70 ODIs, scoring 2,255 runs at 35.23. He has also taken 14 wickets with his part-time leg-break. Shah was the leading run-scorer for Afghanistan in the ICC World Cup this year, with 254 runs in nine matches.
In July last year, he was the leading run-scorer for Mis Ainak Region in the 2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional ODI tournament, scoring 258 runs in five matches. He was also the leading wicket-taker for the team, with eight dismissals in five matches.
Bangladesh fielded an all-spin attack against Afghanistan, without picking a single pace bowler while Afghanistan handed a Test debut to Ibrahim, Qais Ahmed and Zahir Khan. Rashid Khan won the toss and chose to bat first. At stumps on day one, they had scored 271/5, with Afghan (88*) and Afsar Zazai (35*) at the crease.
