If ruthless was used to describe a Test match performance from Bangladesh, this match would be it. One thing almost sums the match up – Najmul Hossain Shanto, alone, scored more in this match than the whole Afghan lineup.
So, the one-off Test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan in Dhaka turned out to be a cakewalk for the Tigers as they wrapped things up within the first session of the fourth day, picking up seven wickets in a session to inflict a massive 546-run defeat on the visiting Afghans.
The defeat margin, itself, produced a lot of records. This is the highest margin of a win by runs this century, third overall, and the first time a team has won a Test by 500 or more runs in a five-day Test.
Also, no team has ever won a match by such a huge margin in Asia, and as all those records indicate, this indeed is the highest margin Bangladesh have won by.
When the Afghan squad for this Test was announced without the likes of Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bangladesh were expected to dominate the match totally. However, the Tigers found a new level of mercilessness as they made the visitors toil and never let them even have any hope of competing for a result in their favour.
They might have had a flicker of hope when they took five wickets for 20 runs and bowled Bangladesh out for 382 but the hosts reduced that to atoms by bowling the visitors out for 146 in the first innings.
Bangladesh skipper Liton Das praised his batters and bowlers for this achievement.
“You cannot do such a thing (win by record margin) any time you want. I want to credit the batters because the wicket was not easy. The bowlers also bowled really well. They maintained their lines and lengths. This is a huge achievement as it’s Test cricket. There is nothing more to ask after winning like this. You can’t ask for a bigger margin as the captain,” the debuting Test skipper said.
For Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott, there was no real way to hide the disappointment.
“Obviously very disappointed. One of those things. And didn't play well from the word go. So, disappointing all around, but you know, the players, there were some slight moments of good cricket from us, but not enough and not consistent enough. The scorecard, you can't really sugarcoat it. You look at the scorecard and that says the story really,” Trott said on his fifth press conference on the trot.
Afghanistan headed into Saturday with 617 runs required and eight wickets in hand, which was reduced to three in hand by the time the Afghan second innings reached triple figures.
Taskin Ahmed’s four wickets sealed the deal and Shoriful Islam took three, meaning Bangladesh’s plan to blow the Afghans away with pace worked, and it worked in a ruthless manner.
