Rawalpindi (Pakistan): Opener Shadman Islam missed out on a century in his comeback test match as Bangladesh blunted pace-heavy Pakistan’s attack and reached 316-5 at stumps on the third day of the first test on Friday.
Shadman, playing his first test match after almost 30 months, made 93 in more than 5 1/2 hours of resilient batting before he was clean bowled by Mohammad Ali (1-42) at the stroke of tea.
Bangladesh still trails Pakistan by 132 runs after Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel hit centuries in the home team’s 448-6 declared.
Mushfiqur Rahim (55 not out) and Litton Das (52 not out) are at the crease. They added an enterprising 98 runs in the latter half of the first session. Both batters stood firm against Shaheen Shah Afridi (0-55) and Naseem Shah (1-77), who couldn’t separate the two with the second new ball late on Day 3.
Das reached his fifty off 52 balls when he struck three fours and a pulled six in Shah’s over. Mushfiqur also made a well composed half century in his first test after 10 months.
Mominul Haque hit an attractive 50 off 76 balls and, together with Shadman, revived Bangladesh innings by combining in a 94-run third-wicket stand after the visitors lost two early wickets in an extended three-hour first session.
Pakistan broke that threatening stand soon after lunch when Mominul’s off stump was knocked over by Khurram Shahzad (2-47), who posed problems to the Bangladesh left-handers while bowling around the wicket and was the standout seam bowler of the day.
Pakistan went for an unsuccessful lbw television referral before Mushfiqur had scored. Shadman, on 57, successfully overturned an onfield lbw decision against him by spinner Salman Ali Agha.
Shadman accelerated after that and struck six more boundaries before Ali got his first success off a sharp incoming delivery as the left-hander departed after hitting 12 boundaries in his 183-ball patient knock.
With the old soft ball not doing much for the pace bowlers on a greenish wicket, part-time off-spinner Saim Ayub got his first test wicket in his first over when Shakib Al Hasan was caught at cover by skipper Shan Masood after making nearly a run-a-ball 15 before Musfiqur and Das dominated against the pace of Afridi and Shah.
Earlier, Shah provided Pakistan an early break when Rizwan plucked a brilliant left-handed catch in front of first slip to dismiss Zakir Hasan (12) in the fifth over of the day after Bangladesh had resumed on 27-0. Shah conceded just 15 runs in his first 12 overs and restrained Bangladesh’s progress in the first hour.
Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto struggled to score 16 off 42 balls before Shahzad had his off stump knocked back as Bangladesh slipped to 53-2 before Shadman and Mominul took charge.
Shadman reached his half century with a pulled boundary in Shah’s last delivery before the first session as both left-handers accelerated in the last hour. Mominul was more comfortable against the pace and kept the scoreboard moving as he upper cut Shah to the third-man boundary and followed it with another four through wide mid-on.
