Afghanistan Star Rahmat Shah Joins Virat Kohli In Elite Test Captains List

Afghanistan captain Rahmat Shah etched his name into the record books with a stellar all-round batting performance in the one-off Test against Bangladesh at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Leading his side in a Test match for the first time, Rahmat struck an unbeaten 105 in the first innings before following it up with 51 in the second. His contributions helped Afghanistan finish Day 4 on 132/3, still requiring 347 more runs for victory. In the process, Rahmat joined an elite group of Test captains, which includes former India skipper Virat Kohli.

The Afghanistan skipper became only the sixth player in Test history to score a century and a fifty-plus knock in his debut match as captain. Kohli was the most recent player to accomplish the feat, having done so during his first Test as captain against Australia in Adelaide in December 2014.

The unique record was first achieved by former England captain Archie MacLaren, who scored both a century and a half-century in his maiden Test as skipper against Australia back in 1897.

Talking about the One-Off Test, Bangladesh pushed towards a big win over Afghanistan after a brilliant century from Litton Das helped them set a target of 479 runs in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Litton scored 102, his seventh Test hundred, as Bangladesh declared on 372-7 on day four at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, having achieved a 106-run lead in the first innings. Afghanistan finished the day on 132-3 with Sediqullah Atal and Hashmatullah Shahidi batting on 35 and 19 respectively. Bangladesh will expect their pacers and spinners to seal victory on a wearing pitch on Tuesday.

Bangladesh seamer Ebadot Hossain gave his team an early breakthrough when he dismissed Abdul Malik for two in just the second over of the innings.

Hasan Mahmud, who took a hat-trick during his five-wicket haul in the first innings, had Shahidullah Kamal caught behind for 19 before Rahmat Shah and Atal added 82 for the third wicket.

(With AFP Inputs)

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