Liton Das smashed an unbeaten maiden Test century to guide Bangladesh to post a comfortable 253 for four on the first day of the first Test against Pakistan on Friday in Chattogram.
This has been an imperious comeback of the wicket-keeper-batter, who was dropped from the recently held three-match T20I series against Pakistan for his poor form.
Mushfiqur Rahim, who was also out of the T20I series, made an unbeaten 82 in a stylish comeback with Liton.
Liton was also unbeaten at 113 for 225 with 11 fours and one six.
In the unbroken fifth wicket stand, the two experienced players added 204 runs on the board after losing four wickets in the morning session. This is now the fourth highest fifth wicket stand for Bangladesh in Tests.
Right before the series against Pakistan, Liton had a stinging World Cup campaign in Oman and the UAE where he played eight matches to score only 133 runs at an average of 16.62. It was enough for Bangladesh selectors to leave him out of the T20I team.
However, Liton finally proved that his bad patch was gone, and he got his zeal back on the track.
The right-handed batsman completed his maiden Test ton in 199 balls. He surpassed his previous best of 95 against Zimbabwe.
Riding on wonderful batting efforts from Mushfiqur and Liton, Bangladesh went to the stumps on the first day without losing any wicket in the second and third session.
Earlier, in the first session, Bangladesh lost four wickets for 49.
Saif Hassan and Shadman Islam, Bangladesh’s Test openers, failed to lay down a solid foundation when they both were back to the dressing room in no time. Both contributed 14 each.
Saif was the first batter to get dismissed. Shaheen Afridi delivered a short ball that rose like cobra at the batter and he failed to negotiate it properly as the ball touched the bat before going to the short leg fielder who did not miss it.
Shadman, who only plays Test, failed to have a good start despite getting an early life when the ball touched his bat and went to the wicketkeeper. TV replays showed no one noticed the ball touching his bat.
Before posting 50 runs on the board, Bangladesh lost two more wickets— captain Mominul Haque and Najmul Hossain Shanto. Mominul fell prey to a super turning delivery by Sajid Khan, and Shanto was dismissed off a short-pitched delivery by Faheem Ashraf. Sajid managed to carry a low catch to remove Shanto for 14.
At this stage of the game, Bangladesh was proving that despite changing the format, the batting woes of them remained the same— especially, the top-order who were blown away so easily against the quality bowling attack of Pakistan.
So the onus was on Mushfiqur and Liton to bring Bangladesh back to the match, and at the same time, prove that they are ready to help themselves to forget the painful memory of the World Cup when nothing went well for Bangladesh.
They started cautiously. They were patient at the start of the innings, and in the end, that resulted in a good way. During the most parts of their innings, both Mushfiqur and Liton were flawless.
At the 64.3 overs, when Liton was batting at 67, Sajid missed a catch at the mid-wicket area. Shaheen delivered a short-pitched ball that Liton failed to bring down. The pull went straight to the mid-wicket, but Sajid couldn’t pick it up.
If the first session was a hint of final celebration for Pakistan, the rest of day one was the reality check for them when they failed to pick up any wicket.
Due to bad light, the day was called a few minutes early, and the match will resume 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled time on Saturday.
Source: United News of Bangladesh