Tigers crash to innings defeat

In a dramatic fifth and final day of the second Test, a woeful batting display from Bangladesh saw them crash to an innings and eight-run defeat to Pakistan despite the fact that rain had washed out around two prior days of the Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.

Pin-drop silence and suspense were the defining features of the final 20 minutes of the day as the hosts battled to save the game, with the Bangladesh team in the dressing room perhaps praying for a miracle from Taijul Islam and Ebadot Hossain.

Bad light was just about to force the umpires to draw stumps and end proceedings in a draw before the scheduled time, but no miracle would be forthcoming after Sajid Khan began the visiting celebrations after picking up the final wicket of Taijul.

Sajid ended with twelve wickets following an eight-wicket haul in the first innings and his figures of 12 wickets for 128 runs were the second-best figures registered by a Pakistani against Bangladesh.

With the result, the visitors completed clean sweep, featuring whitewash wins in the three-match T20I and two-match Test series.

The Tigers will have little time to regather as they are scheduled to travel to New Zealand today for another tough two-Test assignment, leaving no room for Mominul Haque and Co to overcome any demotivation brought on by the dramatic defeat.

Shakib Al Hasan was Bangladesh's biggest hope after they were forced to follow-on. His 63 was the only fight that the batters showed, with the top-order crumbling horribly.

Shakib and Mehedi Hasan Miraz's 51-run seventh-wicket stand provided some stability and the pair saw off the first hour of the final session positively, but Miraz's dismissal proved the turning point of the game.

A lack of maturity from the right-hander proved costly as he went for a slog sweep and was trapped leg before and becoming Babar Azam's maiden Test wicket.

The biggest blow came when Shakib, going onto his back foot, was bowled by a quicker Sajid delivery, signaling the start of a race against time for Pakistan.

Khaled Ahmed was then caught behind off Sajid as Pakistan began to make the impossible task of snatching a win in the rain-curtailed Test match look very possible.

Bangladesh were just nine runs shy of the 213 needed to force Pakistan to come out to bat again and, with bad light also coming into play, there was still a ray of hope that the hosts could draw the Test match before Sajid wrapped things up.

Earlier, Bangladesh resumed their first innings needing 25 runs to avoid the follow-on before being bowled out for 87, with Shakib the last wicket to fall inside the first hour of the day.

Pakistani seamers Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi then burst onto the scene at the start of the second innings to remove the top four Bangladesh batters, leaving the hosts reeling on 25 for 4 before Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das steadied the ship.

Liton was guilty of playing a loose shot and handed a simple catch to short square leg on 45 off the bowling of Sajid before Shakib and Mushfiq added 49 runs. Mushfiqur's suicidal run-out on 48, just minutes before the tea break, changed the complexion of the game.