Atal's Maiden Century Helps Afghanistan Draw Abu Dhabi Test Against Bangladesh

Afghanistan batted out a nerve-shredding final day to draw the one-off Test against Bangladesh at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, October 13. They finished on 346 for 8 after batting for 142 overs, chasing a target of 479.

Resuming the fifth day on a long road to safety, Afghanistan were led by Sediqullah Atal. The opener, who began the day on 35, scored his maiden Test century, 111 off 332 balls, with nine fours and three sixes. He batted for eight hours and 34 minutes, the seventh-longest innings in the fourth innings of a Test match and Afghanistan's third-longest in Tests. He became the first Afghan batter to score a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test, reaching the landmark by pulling Mehidy Hasan Miraz to the boundary. Taijul Islam finally removed him with a faint nick that looped off his pad to short leg, where Tanzid Hasan Tamim took the catch.

Captain Rahmat Shah added 51, but Bangladesh kept chipping away. Mehidy and Ebadot Hossain (3/50) took wickets after tea, and Afghanistan were 288 for 7 when Atal fell. The lower order then held on. Yamin Ahmadzai and Zia-ur-Rehman Akbar blocked out important overs, and Qais Ahmad finished unbeaten on 49. With the draw assured in the final over, he hit Taijul for two sixes, the second off the last ball of the match.

Bangladesh had set the target after declaring their second innings on 372 for 7. Litton Das scored 102, and Najmul Hossain Shanto added 82, taking them to 346 and 372/7 against Afghanistan's first-innings 240. Saleem Safi took 4/82 in the first innings and 2/69 in the second for the hosts.

The match had produced two other big moments on Day 3. Rahmat Shah scored 105 on his Test captaincy debut, and Hasan Mahmud took a hat-trick for a first-innings haul of 5/55, the first by a Bangladesh fast bowler. In the end, they were not enough for either side to win the match.