After the 1st day of the ongoing Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh was called off without a single delivery being bowled, fans waited impatiently for the second day to get underway – not least because it’s a must-win fixture for the green shirts to level the series 1-1 and a golden opportunity for the visiting side to clinch a memorable away series win.
The 2nd day finally commenced at the Pindi stadium when the coin toss took place and the Bangladesh skipper called correctly, inviting the home side to bat first on a pitch with an unusual tinge of grass. It was a disastrous start for Pakistan as Taskin Ahmed – who looked threatening throughout the day – uprooted Abdullah Shafique’s stumps with a brilliant set-up. Then the skipper Shan Masood walked in and formed a terrific partnership with Saim Ayub as the pair negated the threat of the new ball without a fuss.
While Ayub took his time to get going and was cautious enough to respect the Bangladesh bowlers, Masood adopted a different approach. Every time any bowler missed his line or length, the Southpaw gleefully accepted the invitation to keep the scoreboard moving. It was a welcome return to the form for the skipper who was under tremendous pressure coming into this fixture.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, however, wasn’t going to let Pakistan score a massive first-innings total as he soon got into his groove by getting rid of both set batters. At the individual score of 57, Masood missed the line of the ball and was adjudged leg before wicket, while Ayub had a brain-fade moment and was stumped having advanced down the track with the intention of clearing the boundary rope.
It soon went from bad to worse for Pakistan as Saud Shakeel and Babar Azam failed to push on to a massive score, having been well set at the crease. Babar was sent packing for 31 when he made the fatal mistake of playing Shakib Al Hasan off the back foot – the ball wasn’t short enough for any batter to put his weight on the back foot. Shakeel was on 16 when he dragged an in-swinging delivery from Taskin onto his stumps.
Once again, Mohammad Rizwan looked confident and really impressive at the crease for his 63-ball 29 but was soon dismissed by Nahid Rana just as he threatened to take the game away from the visiting side. At 211 for 6, it was down to Salman Agha and the tail to take Pakistan to a somewhat respectable total.
Agha – as he has done brilliantly throughout this short Test career – batted alongside the lesser-accomplished batters with composure and intelligence. While he had failed to record a decent score in the first Test, today the right-hander looked the best of the Pakistan batters. Unfortunately, he was running out of partners when he was caught at the boundary rope as his pull shot failed to clear the head of Shakib Al Hasan.
Pakistan were bundled out for 274 with Taskin Ahmed clinching 3 wickets. But the pick of the bowlers was Miraz who once again bowled brilliantly to deceive a number of Pakistan batters as he finished with stupendous figures of 5 for 61. Shakib and Nahid Rana picked up one wicket apiece – the latter looked particularly threatening with his rapid pace and accurate bouncers.
In reply, Bangladesh managed to score 10 runs without losing a wicket at stumps on Day 2, but things could have been very different had Saud Shakeel not spilled a straightforward chance offered by Shadman Islam off the first ball of the innings. Shadman was unbeaten at 6 while Zakir Hasan was yet to open his account when umpires called it a day.
On a day when everyone was expecting seamers to dominate the proceedings on a green-looking pitch, it was Mehidy who spun a web around the Pakistan batters with this immaculate control and ability to spin big, putting the visitors in a commanding position.
