Abu Dhabi: Afghanistan secured an epic draw against Bangladesh in their one-off Test at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday on the back of a marvellous century from Sediqullah Atal and a lower-order heroic fight from Yamin Ahmadzai, Qais Ahmad and Zia-ur-Rehman Akbar.
Asked to chase an improbable target of 479, Afghanistan made 346/8 and, more importantly, batted 142 overs to produce a famous draw. Bangladesh let several chances slip by and could not manage to pick up the remaining two wickets, with Qais going back unbeaten on 49 from 80 balls and Zia-ur-Rehman playing blocking 12 balls without a run. It was a brilliant fourth innings defence set up by Atal. He dropped anchor and made 111 from 332 balls in what could be a defining innings in his Test career. He batted for eight hours and 34 minutes for this result, which is now the seventh longest knock recorded in the fourth innings of a Test. Atal's hundred is also the first by an Afghan player in the fourth innings of a Test.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 346 (Tanzid 83, Shadman 67; Saleem 4-82) and 372/7 (Litton 102, Shanto 82, Saleem 2-69) drew with Afghanistan 240 (Rahmat 105, Malik 62, Mahmud 5-55) and 346/8 (Sediqullah Atal 111, Rahmat 51, Qais 49*, Ebadot 3-50). IANS
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