Aggressive Litton takes Bangladesh lead past 400 on fourth morning

Lunch Bangladesh 346 and 337 for 6 (Shanto 82, Litton 81*, Mushfiqur 81, Mehidy 38*, Zia 2-86, Ahmadzai 2-96) lead Afghanistan 240 by 443 runs

Bangladesh trampled all over Afghanistan in a wicketless first session on the fourth day in Abu Dhabi, swelling their lead in the one-off Test to 443 runs with Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz putting on a 114-run partnership in just over 26 overs for the unbroken seventh wicket.

Litton was unbeaten on 81 off 96 balls with 11 fours, while Mehidy was on 38 not out. The pair offered plenty of chances too, but Afghanistan couldn't make any of them count.

The session began ominously for Afghanistan after Litton caressed Qais Ahmad through point, followed by a blow down the ground against Zia-ur-Rehman in the next over.

The first reprieve for Litton came when he was on 14, his edge off Qais' bowling bursting through slip fielder Shahidullah's hands. Qais then spilled one off his own bowling when Litton was on 26.

Litton continued to go after the Afghanistan bowlers after they took the new ball, possibly hinting at a Bangladesh declaration at some point. He pressed one through mid-on off Yamin Ahmadzai, before crashing Mohammad Saleem past point. Shortly afterwards, he reached his second half-century of the game.

Mehidy supported Litton well, and he too rode his luck. Sediqullah Atal let an edge from Mehidy go past him at slip, off Ahmadzai's bowling, and went on to debate with wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil that the ball had gone between them. The boundary brought up Bangladesh's 400-run lead.

Litton played another pretty straight drive off Ahmadzai, and next ball, the bowler belted out a huge appeal, which was turned down. Replays showed that Litton had inside edged the ball.

On the third day too, Bangladesh had done most of the running. They first bowled out Afghanistan for 240 before lunch, with Hasan Mahmud taking five wickets, including a hat-trick, and Ebadot Hossain picking up four wickets. Rahmat Shah stood tall for Afghanistan to score his fourth Test century.

Bangladesh, leading by 106 runs after the first-innings exchanges, ran into trouble when they slipped to 53 for 3. But Mushfiqur Rahim and Najmul Hossain Shanto bailed them out with a fourth-wicket partnership of 159 runs.

They both got out in the last six overs of the day as Afghanistan finally hit back, but they have let that bit of momentum slip altogether since then.