Day 5: Afghanistan bag epic win after rain interruptions

Afghanistan win by 224 runs in the one-off Test against Bangladesh at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. It is Afghanistan's second Test victory in only their third Test match. 

61.4 - Ban 173 all out: Soumya is the last wicket to fall and Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan captain has got the last wicket with some four overs left till close of play on Day 5. A brilliant win for Afghanistan as they battled through incessant rain to come out on top with Rashid leading them in exemplary manner. Soumya Sarkar c Ibrahim Zadran b Rashid Khan 15 (59b 2x4 0x6) SR: 25.42

59.6 - Ban 171/9: Soumya gets a leading edge off Rashid and ball falls between short cover and mid off just a bit short of the fielder. 

57.3 - Bn 166/9: Taijul defends it. Rashid and Co. go up in appeal asking for a leg-before. Umpire doesn't move for a while but then raises his finger. Rashid has bagged his fifth with Bangladesh nine down. Taijul would've loved to review but Mehedi wasted one earlier when he was out. Replays suggest Taijul was unfortunate as he got bat on it. Taijul Islam lbw b Rashid Khan 0 (6b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00 

55.3 - Ban 166/8: Rashid with another googly and Mehedi is beaten for pace as much as the turn. Ball catches him in front of the stumps and umpire raises his finger. Mehedi wants the review and third umpire confirms it is out. Mehedi Hasan Miraz lbw b Rashid Khan 12 (28b 1x4 0x6) SR: 42.85

52.6 - Ban 159/7: Dropped!  Mehedi tries to fend chinaman bowler Zahir off but an inside edge loops up but silly point can't manage to keep hold of the ball. Stroke of luck for Bangladesh. A minimum of 12 overs left till close with Afghans needing three more wickets.

46.4 Ban 143/7: First ball after the rain break and Shakib is gone! Tries to cut it and gets the faintest of edge through to the wicket-keeper. Shakib Al Hasan c †Afsar Zazai b Zahir Khan 44 (54b 4x4 0x6) SR: 81.48 Afghanistan were probably keeping their fingers crossed, praying and hoping for the play to resume and their prayers were answered. You make your own luck and they have removed dangerman Shakib first ball. Mehedi Miraz comes in to bat. 

4:20pm: Play resumes. Play was scheduled to go on till 5:30 PM so it remains to be seen  

3:30 Rain stopped about half-an-hour ago. As we, along with the Bangladesh and Afghanistan teams, wait for the umpires to decide whether some cricket could still be possible in this last session given the outfield is drained and dried, here is some news from another sport -- football -- where these two countries will meet in a World Cup qualifying match in Dushanbe, Tajikistan tomorrow (8:00pm Bangladesh time).

This will be the first match for the men in red and green while Afghanistan, who have chosen Tajikistan as their home venue, will be playing their second following a 6-0 defeat against Asian Cup champions Qatar four days ago.

The match will be telecast live on Bangla TV. In fact, the TV channel will telecast all the eight matches of Bangladesh's second round of qualifiers (home and away) over the next one year.

We will bring more on that match including previews, statistics, build-up to the match, etc on tomorrow's paper and also on our website.

Meanwhile, the covers are being taken off slowly at the Zahud Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram, even as dark clouds continue to threaten another spell of rain, leading to a nervous wait for the Bangladesh team, who are battling to avoid defeat against one of the newest members of Test cricket.

2:25 pm: Rain has wiped out the first session and well on it's way to wiping the second session which is scheduled to end at 3:10 pm. It is still raining at Chattogram.

1:10 pm: The players have gone off again as rain interrupted play after just 13 deliveries. Bangladesh are staring at defeat and are perhaps glad to see the rain come back once more.

1:00 pm: The players are out on the field. The Tigers will have to survive at least a minimum of 63 overs after rain had delayed proceedings at Chattogram. The rain could play further part in this match. Nabi starts off proceedings for Afghanistan.

12:40 pm: Good news from Chattogram. Play will begin at 1:00 pm 

12:20 pm: The covers are off and groundsmen are busy with preparations. The players are out onto the field to get some warmup done. 

9:37am: Hello! It's another gloomy morning in Chattogram and the early start could not take place due to further rain. There has been rain overnight. Play is unlikely to start very soon. We will keep you posted.

Bangladesh step into the field on Day 5 of the one-off Test against Afghanistan faced at Chattogram's Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, faced with an impossible task. So impossible was the task that it yesterday led skipper Shakib Al Hasan, who has attended three press conferences in the last five days – a number that is astonishing by his standards – yesterday joked that he might score a 150 while Soumya Sarkar at the other end will strike a 120 to take Tigers to victory.

Chasing a target of 398, the Tigers were already reeling at 136 for six when play was called off due to rain yesterday. They needed another 262 runs with four wickets remaining while the Afghan spinners, led by skipper Rashid Khan were running rampant. Shakib had also talked about the rain playing a part and that might come into play this morning.

It's an early start today, the fifth and final day of the Test in order to make up for lost time yesterday. We will keep you posted on new and updates from the field of play.

The Test skipper answered questions from reporters and he reiterated that fear was one of the key factors in their disappointing performance.

The BCB president meanwhile was not too happy with how the Tigers succumbed to pressure.

Mazhar meanwhile wrote about Bangladesh's approach of sticking to their guns by not sticking to their guns.