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Tigers seal biggest Test victory of this century

Tigers seal biggest Test victory of this century
Sports

Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 546 runs in the one-off Test at Mirpur. This is the biggest victory by the margin of runs in this century by any team, the previous best was South Africa's victory over Australia by 492 runs in 2018. The Tigers became only the third in Test history to register a victory of over 500 runs.

This is also the biggest victory in five-day Tests and the third-highest victory overall in the history of Test cricket.

Fast bowlers breathed fire as they bundled the visitors out in the first session of the fourth day's play. Taskin Ahmed bagged his career-best figure of 4/37 while Shoriful Islam picked up three wickets. Ebadot Hossain and Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked up a wicket each. 

Taskin could have bagged his maiden five-for in Test cricket. He dismissed Zahir Khan twice in consecutive deliveries only to be reversed once and called no-ball the next time before hitting him on the elbow which saw the Afghan retiring hurt in the dramatic final over of the match. 


Bangladeshi pacers picked up 14 wickets in the match, their highest in Test history. 

The hosts entered the fourth day needing eight wickets to seal the record win, which they comfortably did inside 22 overs. 

Twin tons from Najmul Hossain Shanto and one from Mominul Haque in the second innings had already laid the foundation for Bangladesh's triumph. Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Zakir Hasan played fine knocks in both innings supporting Shanto's stellar hundreds. 

Interestingly, the visitors failed to match even Shanto's individual runs in both innings.

After being bundled out for 382 in the first innings, the hosts sent the Afghans packing for 146. Shanto actually scored 146 runs in the first innings. 

Bangladesh declared on 425/4 in the second innings setting up a mammoth 662-run target for Afghanistan. They were eventually bundled out for 115, nine less than Shanto's 124 in the second innings.

Shanto was adjudged the man of the match, as expected, with his terrific 270 runs in the match.