The first day of the first Test was nothing short of amazing where both of the sides had something to enjoy and Rawalpindi pitch wasn’t the typical one this time – thankfully. Also, this is only the second time that Pakistan started their home Test season in the month of August. Previously it happened in 2003. Bangladesh were the visitors on that occasion as well
The start was delayed due to the wet-outfield. But, the day started with Pakistan losing the toss and then three wickets in quick succession. The dismissal of the Pakistan captain Shan Masood was however differently perceived as many thought it wasn’t a right decision.
Babar Azam also failed to put up a great show as he dogged down the leg-side ball and the keeper did the rest of the job.
Despite the early damage by the Bangladesh pacers, Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel helped Pakistan to be back in the game. Saim, playing his just second Test, showed grit and determination. He read the situation aptly, saw off the new ball, and later tonked the Bangladesh’s bowling attack.
“Bangladesh bowled really well in the beginning. It was not easy for us and their bowlers did not give us enough margins. We had to wait for the tempo to be in our favour and then made a comeback,” Saim said in the press conference after the day’s play.
Ayub ended up scoring 56 before being dismissed by Hasan Mahmud.
Attacking good balls is always risky when you lose early wickets. The pitch today was one of the toughest wickets I have ever played on in Pakistan, said Saim
On the other hand, Shakeel became the joint-quickest batsman to reach 1000 Test runs, joining Saeed Ahmad who achieved this feat in 1959, as they both achieved the similar milestone in 11 matches. Meanwhile Sadiq Mohammad achieved this feat in 13 matches and Javed Miandad accomplished this feat in 14 games.
Shakeel couldn’t impress during the Australian series but made an impressive comeback as he guided Pakistan to a safe total before the game was stopped due to a bad light.
Unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh opted for two spinners in their lineup but they couldn’t extract something from the pitch as it mostly aided the pacers.
After Saim, Mohammad Rizwan joined Saud Shakeel on the crease and after the shaky start, the wicket-keeper batsman ended up scoring 24 from 31 balls with the help of two boundaries.
Shakeel will continue his innings from 57 runs.
Pakistan fans will hope for a long standing partnership from these two gritty batsmen. Rizwan’s wicket will be crucial for the tourist side as he was the highest run scorer for Pakistan during the Australian Test series.
Speaking of Bangladesh, they held some great catches to dismiss Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam.
Shoriful Islam took 2 wickets for 30 runs while Hasan Mahmud took 2 for 33 runs. The spinners didn’t find much success and didn’t bowl more overs either.
