Pakistan take command
Pakistan took charge and pushed Bangladesh onto the back foot after the second day of the first Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday.
Bangladesh were bundled out for 330 in the first innings as pacer Hasan Ali picked up his sixth five-wicket haul. The visitors then replied strongly through a 145-run opening stand from Abid Ali and debutant Abdullah Shafique.
Abid was seven runs shy of his fourth Test hundred while Shafique was unbeaten on 52. Pakistan will resume the third day trailing by 185 runs and all wickets intact.
Bangladesh's bowling attack posed no threat to the two Pakistani openers as pacers Abu Jayed and Ebadot Hossain were unable to extract any purchase with the new ball.
The only chance that Bangladesh managed to create was in the 13th over when Taijul Islam's armer zipped through Shafique's back leg when he was on nine.
Initially, it seemed it had hit the bat first but despite an appeal from Taijul and wicketkeeper Liton Das, skipper Mominul Haque opted not to review.
It was later shown that the ball had hit the pad first but would have otherwise gone on to hit the stumps.
Abid stayed positive with his shot-making and reached his fifty off 84 balls while Shafique displayed great patience and reached his fifty off 153 balls.
Earlier, Pakistan's seamers again used the new ball to perfection to begin the second day as Hasan trapped centurion Liton Das leg before with a brilliant in-swinger, ending his magnificent 206 run fifth-wicket stand with Mushfiqur Rahim.
Debutant Yasir Ali struck a gorgeous cover drive to Shaheen Afridi and was looking good until he was undone by another deadly in-swinging delivery from Hasan which went through the gap between the bat and pad and struck timber.
Mushfiqur exercised caution in his nineties, playing 14 dot balls before edging to the keeper off the bowling of Faheem Ashraf. It was the fourth instance when Mushfiqur was dismissed in the nineties in Test cricket -- the most by a Bangladeshi.
Mehedi Hasan Miraz then added some crucial runs, striking six fours during an unbeaten 38 before Afridi and Hasan removed the lower-order inside the first session.
Hasan ended with figures of five for 51 while Afridi and Faheem bagged two wickets each.
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