AFG vs BAN, Only Test — Day 3 Stumps: Bangladesh 346 & 223/6, Lead by 329 After Hasan Mahmud's Hat-Trick and a Shanto–Mushfiqur Stand

Test cricket can spend two days building a story and then rewrite it in three balls. Afghanistan began the third morning in Abu Dhabi 135 behind with six wickets in hand and Rahmat Shah on 84, thinking of a first-innings lead. By the 83rd over they were 220 for 8, and the man who had done it, Hasan Mahmud, had a hat-trick to his name.

Rahmat got his hundred anyway, and walked off unbeaten on 105 when the innings closed on 240. Bangladesh then lost three early wickets of their own before Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim batted through most of two sessions to put the match firmly in their grip. At stumps Bangladesh were 223 for 6, a lead of 329, with two days left.

Bangladesh took the second new ball at the start of the 81st over, and it did its work almost at once. Ebadot Hossain bowled Ikram Alikhil for 32 off 103 balls in the 82nd over, ending an 80-run fifth-wicket stand that had stretched across 211 deliveries. In the next over Hasan Mahmud bowled Ismat Alam for 1, had Qais Ahmad caught behind by Litton Das first ball, and then won a review against Zia-ur-Rehman, the not-out decision overturned to lbw. From 219 for 4, Afghanistan were 220 for 8.

Hasan added a fifth when Yamin Ahmadzai was caught behind in the 87th over, and Afghanistan's review was struck down. Rahmat, meanwhile, reached his hundred off 215 balls with nine fours and two sixes, and stayed there until Ebadot had Mohammad Saleem caught behind in the 90th over. Afghanistan were all out for 240, 106 behind on first innings. Rahmat finished 105 not out off 216 balls.

Bangladesh's openers started briskly. Tanzid Hasan survived an Afghan review in the second over, but Mohammad Saleem had Shadman Islam caught by Rahmat for 13 at 31 for 1, and Yamin had Mominul Haque caught by Sediqullah Atal for 7 at 44 for 2, the last ball before lunch.

Yamin struck again in the 15th over, Tanzid caught by Shahidullah for 31 off 38 balls, and Bangladesh were 53 for 3. Shanto then lived a charmed hour: Afghanistan reviewed not-out decisions against him in the 12th and 14th overs and lost both, the first on umpire's call, and on 26.3 overs he was given out but had the decision overturned on Bangladesh's own review. Mushfiqur was the freer scorer at the other end, and Bangladesh reached tea on 124 for 3 — Mushfiqur 48, Shanto 23. The fourth-wicket pair had reached fifty off 83 balls, with Mushfiqur contributing 37 of them.

Mushfiqur reached his fifty off 73 balls soon after tea, survived being given out on 45.3 overs when Bangladesh's review overturned the decision, and the stand passed 100 off 170 balls. Shanto, more watchful, needed 135 balls for his fifty and survived another Afghan review on 46.2 overs. By the 64th over the pair had added 150, and Bangladesh had passed 200.

Afghanistan finally broke through late in the day. Zia-ur-Rehman had Mushfiqur caught by Shahidullah for 81 off 148 balls at 212 for 4, ending the stand at 159. Qais Ahmad bowled Shanto for 82 off 191 at 222 for 5. And Zia had Hasan Mahmud, sent in ahead of Mehidy Hasan Miraz, lbw for 1 in the final over of the day; Bangladesh's review was struck down. Litton Das and Mehidy saw out the day at 223 for 6.

Hasan had taken one wicket in 16 overs on the second day. On the third, he took four for 19 in five overs and turned a tight Test into a lopsided one. His innings figures of 21-5-55-5 show that he never gave away much at any stage, and the hat-trick came from three different modes of dismissal: bowled, caught behind, lbw. As reported in our news coverage of the spell, he is the first Bangladesh fast bowler to take a Test hat-trick.

Ebadot deserves his own line. His 4.1 overs on Day 3 cost six runs and brought two wickets, finishing with 4 for 56, and between them Bangladesh's two quicks took nine of the ten wickets in the innings.

Rahmat Shah's 105 not out deserved a better ending. He came in at 64 for 2, outlasted every partner, and spent 216 balls building an innings that had Afghanistan 219 for 4 and eyeing a first-innings lead. That the last six wickets added 21 is not on him.

Afghanistan's bowlers had a good start and a long middle. Yamin Ahmadzai's 2 for 42 and Saleem's early strike reduced Bangladesh to 53 for 3, but then more than 50 overs passed without another wicket. Zia-ur-Rehman, who went wicketless in the first innings, bowled 23 overs for 55 and took two late, and Hashmatullah Shahidi bowled 12 overs himself for 32. They kept the scoring in check — Bangladesh made 223 in 72 overs — but on this surface, containment alone was not going to win this Test.

This Test didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there is no prediction to grade. We'll have full analysis for the next encounter, and we'll keep tracking this one every day until the result.

A lead of 329 with four wickets in hand leaves Bangladesh in complete control. The question for Day 4 is timing: how many more runs Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz can add before Bangladesh turn to their bowlers, and how much time they want to give Afghanistan to survive. For Afghanistan, the next session is about limiting the target. After that, they will need Rahmat Shah and their top order to bat for a very long time to save the match.