Tigers were humiliated by Pakistan as the visitors cruised to an emphatic eight-wicket win on the fifth day of Chattogram Test at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Tuesday.
And with this win, Pakistan ensured a 1-0 lead in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh. The second Test of the series will take place in Dhaka from December 4.
With all wickets in hand, Pakistan needed to score 93 runs on the fifth day of the game — and they did it without much resistance from the hosts.
Abid Ali missed his twin-ton in the match just by nine runs. He led the visitors to batter the hosts in this match, scoring a cumulative 224 runs. Debutant Abdullah Shafique also came to the limelight, scoring a twin-50 as the new Pakistan Test opener.
Bangladesh only managed to bag two wickets in the fourth innings of the match. Abid and Abdullah put up an opening stand of 155 in the fourth innings in what threw away Bangladesh’s all hope from this match.
On the eve of Pakistan’s victory, Bangladesh’s captain Mominul Haque set a super-attacking field, but that was too late to implement and the visitors easily chipped away with Azhar Ali hitting two back-to-back fours off Mehidy Hasan Miraz to seal the match.
Bangladesh though were in the driving seat during the game — they managed to post 330 in the first innings despite losing early wickets when Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim led the charge, they also managed a rare first-innings lead, though it was not that big, but at the end was not enough for the hosts to save their first match of the new cycle of the ICC World Test Championship.
Bangladesh surely missed the third seamer in this match. While two Pakistan pacers— Hassan Ali and Shaheen Afridi— were the best bowlers for the visitors, Bangladeshi pacers were toneless.
Abu Jayed, who is regarded the best pacer of the current Test set-up of Bangladesh, bowled 16 overs but failed to grab any wicket. Ebadot Hossain, the other pacer of Bangladesh’s XI, bowled 34 overs and took two wickets in the first innings.
Taijul Islam bagged seven wickets in the first innings, and one in the second. Mehidy was also impressive, at least, to contain the runs and put pressure on the opposition batters.
Bangladesh captain believes that early wickets at the start of both the innings made things tough for the hosts. He said at the post-match ceremony: “We lost in the first one hour of the first innings and second innings as well. I thought Mushi and Liton batted really well.” Mominul credited Hasan and Shaheen for Pakistan’s win.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said it was the consistency with the ball that drove them along the way after falling behind at the end of the first innings. “We came back well the next day (after Bangladesh doing well despite losing early wickets), and that’s what Test cricket is all about. You have time to make a comeback. When there is a partnership, we have to be more consistent with our bowling.”
Bangladesh came to this match with huge criticism regarding their performance in the T20 World Cup and in the T20I series against Pakistan. But a century by Liton and a 90 by Mushfiqur helped calmed down the things for now.
Debutant Yasir Ali also did well, but due to a nasty blow on the head, he had to leave the field midway and go to the hospital for a 24-hour observation. To replace him, Bangladesh fielded Nurul Hasan Sohan as a substitute, but he failed to grab the chance.
Bangladesh might get the service of Shakib Al Hasan in the second Test, and that would surely boost the confidence of the team, as they have a good chance to bounce back in the Dhaka pitch which is more familiar to the Bangladesh players than the Chattogram surface.
Brief score:
Bangladesh (1st innings): 330/10 in 114.4 overs (Liton 114, Mushfiqur 91, Mehidy 38); Hasan 5/51, Faheem 2/54)
Pakistan (1st innings): 286/10 in 115.4 overs (Abid 133, Shafique 52, Faheem 38); Taijul 7/116, Ebadot 2/47
Bangladesh (2nd innings) 157/10 in 56.2 overs (Liton 59, Yasir 36*); Shaheen 5/32, Sajid 3/33
Pakistan (2nd innings) 203/2 in 58.3 overs (Abid 91, Shafique 73); Mediy 1/59, Taijul 1/89
Source: United News of Bangladesh