Afghans ride Rahmat's ton to post 271/5 against Bangladesh

Sep 5 (CRICKETNMORE) Rashid Khan became the youngest ever Test captain while Rahmat Shah registered the first century for Afghanistan in the longer format as the visitors posted 271/5 against Bangladesh at stumps on Day 1 of the one-off match on Thursday.

Spin sensation Rashid, who turned 20 years and 350 days and surpassed the record of Tatenda Taibu who led Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka at Harare in 2004 at the age of 20 years and 358 days, won the toss and chose to bat first.

Bangladesh, playing without a proper seamer, removed openers Ihsanullah (9) and Ibrahim Zadran (21) early with left-arm spinner Taijul Islam snaring both the wickets. But then Rahmat came to the crease and scored 102 off 187 balls before being dismissed by Nayeem Hasan.

Rahmat came to bat in the 13th over after the dismissal of opener Ihsanullah. He went on to put on a 120-run stand with former skipper Asghar Afghan. At the end of the first session, Rahmat was on 97.

He finally crossed the coveted mark with a four off Nayeem Hassan who bowls off spin. However, he went for a loose drive off the next ball and got a thick edge that was grabbed by Soumya Sarkar at first slip. Rahmat had previously scored 98 in Afghanistan's last Test against Ireland in Dehradun.

Afghan remained unbeaten on 88 from 160 balls with wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai who was batting on 35 at stumps.

For Bangladesh, Taijul (2/73) and Nayeem Hasan (2/43) were the pick of the bowlers.

Brief scores: Afghanistan 1st innings: 271/5 (Rahmat Shah 102, Asghar Afghan 88 batting; Taijul Islam 2/73, Nayeem Hasan 2/43)