Pybus praises Atal's century, Shanto feels chances weren't grabbed

After his marathon batting innings of eight hours and 34 minutes in the searing heat and humidity of Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan's Sediqullah Atal earned praise from his head coach Richard Pybus and Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto. Atal completely upended his own technique and style to help Afghanistan to an outstanding draw against Bangladesh.

Atal made 111 after facing 332 balls amid immense pressure as Afghanistan battled through 142 overs in the fourth innings to save the Test. Sediqullah was around until the 119th over. Pybus said Atal had overcome a lean patch to produce one of Afghanistan's finest Test innings.

"All credit to Sediq for really turning it around," Pybus said. "It was an outstanding innings for him. He had been a little bit out of touch, actually, so he worked really hard on this innings.

"Credit to him, he's at the beginning of his Test career. He's done all the work. He will carry that confidence forward."

Shanto was also quick to compliment Afghanistan's monumental effort, particularly the centurion.

"They played some brilliant cricket," Shanto said. "We have to give them credit as well. Especially the way Sediqullah batted, it was really impressive.

"We never thought that the match would be over on the fourth day. The wicket was good on the fourth and fifth day. There was some help for the spinners, but it was a good wicket for five days. They must be credited for the way they batted against our quality of bowling attack."

Pybus also described how Afghanistan felt during the fourth innings marathon, which lasted a day and a half. "I think the squad actually managed emotions today pretty well. It's a long chase and also getting to the point where you're actually batting to hold out and to get a good draw out of it," he said.

Pybus added that Qais Ahmad, who scored a dramatic unbeaten 49 in the last hour, may have involved Ben Stokes' style of batting in a situation where batters mostly defend with the utmost care.

"Qais paid absolutely no attention to my advice whatsoever," Pybus said. "I suggested to him to defend really strongly and with a lot of willpower. I thought he was trying to channel Ben Stokes and chase down that total without absolutely any possibility of getting it. Qais gave us a cameo at the back end there. Qais played his own game. But credit to him, he just fought incredibly hard like the whole side did."

Shanto, meanwhile, said that Bangladesh paid for "small mistakes" during the fourth innings. There was a dropped catch, a missed stumping and a botched run-out attempt. At one point, a ball also rolled off Yamin Ahmadzai's bat and onto the stumps without dislodging the bails.

"I think we gave our best but we didn't take the opportunities," Shanto said. "In this kind of condition, these things probably made the difference. We should have taken ten wickets today. I think we ended up drawing the game due to the small mistakes. It is certainly a disappointing result but we played good cricket on all five days. Our bowlers worked very hard especially in these conditions today. I think we have to give our bowlers the credit. We couldn't use the opportunities."

Shanto said that the bowling attack should figure out how to take wickets on unresponsive pitches, especially late in the Test match: "I believe that after the Australia series, we needed to play in these conditions before the West Indies series. This experience will help us going forward.

"We have an experienced bowling attack who all know what's expected of them. We were all disciplined. They bowled in the right areas for a long period. I think maybe the bowlers can figure out exactly how else to bowl in these conditions."

He also reserved praise for Litton Das' player-of-the-match performance. Litton became the first wicketkeeper to score a century and a half-century, and make nine dismissals in a Test match. "It was outstanding the way he kept wicket and played those two innings, especially in this weather. It is a great sign for our team that someone bounced back after two or three low scores," said Shanto.