Taskin Ahmed claimed a career-best 4-37 as Bangladesh crushed Afghanistan by 546 runs in the fourth day of their one-off Test to secure the format’s biggest victory margin by runs in nearly 90 years.

The game ended when a bouncer from Taskin hit Zahir Khan during the long opening session of the fourth day in Dhaka. The last batsman had to leave the game because he was hurt.

The visitors barely made a dent in the huge target of 662 runs, giving the home team its biggest run win in a Test since 1934, when Australia beat England by 562 runs.

“This win is obviously very satisfying,” skipper Liton Das told reporters.

“The batsmen should be given some credit because the wicket was not that easy,” he added. “You cannot ask for more after winning by this kind of margin.”

It was more than twice as big as Bangladesh’s previous record win, which came in 2005 when they beat Zimbabwe by 226 runs in Chittagong.

After declaring their second innings at 425-4 in the last session on Friday, Bangladesh’s win was almost certain.

Afghanistan got off to a bad start right away. Ibrahim Zadran was out on the first ball of the innings, and the team started Saturday with a dangerous 45-2 score.

On the fourth day, the tourists didn’t improve much, and they kept losing wickets. Taskin and Shoriful Islam led the Bangladesh attack.

Afghanistan’s coach Jonathan Trott said that his team’s first Test in more than two years was a “very disappointing” loss.

“There were some slight moments of good cricket from us, but not enough and not consistent enough,” he said.

Trott said the tourists were “lacking in all three disciplines” and needed to improve their mentality.

“It’s always good to have a Test match and play well, but not when you perform like that,” he added.

Taskin was close to getting his first five-wicket haul when he bowled the last man, Zahir Khan, but the umpire called a no ball.

Afghanistan lost a wicket when Nasir Jamal edged Ebadot Hossain to the keeper in the third over of the morning.

Five overs later, Shoriful got Afsar Zazai to throw the ball to Mehidy Hasan at gully. This was because Shoriful had taken 3-28.

It brought Bahir Shah to the crease to replace captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, who had to leave the game because he was hurt after being hit by a Taskin bouncer on the third day.

But Bahir didn’t last long either. Taskin forced him to give Taijul Islam a catch at slip for seven.

With a catch behind the wickets off Taskin, Liton ended Rahmat Shah’s long innings of 30 runs in 73 balls.

Karim Janat was aggressive and hit two sixes before Taskin bowled him out for 18 runs.

Mehidy Hasan, the spinner, joined in by taking out Amir Hamza for five, putting Afghanistan eight down. Taskin took care of the rest.

In the first innings, Bangladesh scored 382 runs on a green wicket and bowled out Afghanistan for 146, giving them a 236-run lead.

In 2019, at Chittagong, Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by 224 runs in the only other Test between the two teams.

Photo: Munir uz Zaman/AFP