Mominul Haque starred for Bangladesh with a hundred before a late burst from pacer Shannon Gabriel handed West Indies a slight advantage in terms of momentum, at the end of day one of the first Test between the two sides in Chittagong on Thursday.
Bangladesh ended the day with 315/8 powered by a hundred from the left-handed Mominul who cracked his eighth hundred in Tests with a 120 off 167 balls. He now has equalled veteran opener Tamim Iqbal’s tally of eight Test hundreds–the most by a Bangladeshi. Haque also matched Indian skipper and star batsman Virat Kohli’s feat of four Test hundreds this year.
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But the Windies’ way of paving a comeback was mostly through a fiery spell from Gabriel whose four wickets giving away just 69 runs. He also took the crucial wickets of Shakib Al Hasan (34) and Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmadullah for single-digit scores of four and three respectively.
The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first–a decision mostly powered by Haque as his century lifted Bangladesh to a point from where they looked good to get to a big score.
But the screws on the innings were tightened by Gabriel, who did most of the damage in the final session of the match. He took the prized wicket of Haque and also went on to send back Rahim in that very over.
From a solid and healthy 222/3, Bangladesh slumped to 235/7.
But Bangladesh were saved from succumbing to a below-par score by a 56-run stand between Taijul Islam and Nayeem Hasan to help their side get past the 300-run mark.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 315/8 (Mominul Haque 120, Imrul Kayes 44; Shannon Gabriel 4/69) vs West Indies.
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