Left-handed batter Zakir Hasan demonstrated his remarkable prowess as he hit a century on his debut in the ongoing Test against India in Chattogram, marking an outstanding start to his career in the international arena.
Despite his brilliant century, Bangladesh are still in dire straits. They must either bat out the entirety of the fifth day with only four wickets remaining, or score 241 runs more to register an improbable victory.
At the end of day four, Bangladesh were batting at 272 for six, with Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz not out for 40 and 9, respectively.
Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir put together an impressive opening stand of more than 100 runs, as they batted through the entire morning session in Chattogram and made India's bowlers toil.
Shanto, who suffered a golden duck in the first innings, scored 67 this time. India got the first breakthrough when Umesh Yadav removed Shanto. After Shanto’s dismissal, Bangladesh lost Yasir Ali quickly. He played only 12 balls to score five runs.
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Both Liton Das and Mushfqiur Rahim got off to good start, but both failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Liton scored 19 runs off 59 balls before losing his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav, while Mushfiqur made 20 runs off 50 balls before being bowled out by Axar Patel.
Before Mushfiqur’s dismissal, Zakir had scored a remarkable century off of 224 balls, becoming only the fourth Bangladeshi after Aminul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, and Abul Hasan to register a century on debut. He faced 269 deliveries, second only to Javed Omar's 306, making him the second-most resilient opener in the Test debut for Bangladesh.
On the day of Zakir’s debut in Test cricket, Axar was India’s best bowler taking three wickets for 50 runs. Umesh and Ravichandran Ashwin scalped one wicket each for them.
Earlier, India scored 404 in the first innings of the match after winning the toss, with Cheteshwar Pujara contributing a magnificent 90. Taijul Islam and Mehdiy both picked up four wickets each in the process.
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Bangladesh responded with a meagre total of 150, with Kuldeep destroying their batting line-up with a five-wicket haul. India then piled on 258 for two and declared their second innings, setting up a massive lead of 512 runs.