Abid, Abdullah put Pakistan on top against BD

Published November 28, 2021
CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh batter Yasir Ali is cleaned up by Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali during the first Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Saturday.—AFP
CHITTAGONG: Bangladesh batter Yasir Ali is cleaned up by Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali during the first Test at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Saturday.—AFP

CHITTAGONG: An unbroken opening century stand by Abid Ali and debutant Abdullah Shafique gave Pakistan a solid platform after fast bowler Hasan Ali claimed 5-51 to dismiss Bangladesh for 330 on day two of the opening Test on Saturday.

Abid, who reached the 1,000-run mark in his 15th Test, closed in on his fourth century to stay unbeaten on 93 while Abdullah was batting on 52 as Pakistan reached 145-0 at stumps owing to bad light, 185 shy of Bangladesh’s first-innings total.

“In the afternoon, it started to spin a bit,” Abid said. “The ball was old. So it was gripping and doing a few other tricks. Our plan was that we have to stay at the wicket and utilise the bad balls.

“We are in good position now and will try to take it session by session. Our first target is to go past Bangladesh’s 330 and then we will try to take a big lead to give our bowlers an advantage.”

Abid struck the first three boundaries when Abdullah struggled to get off the mark.

Abdullah flicked through midwicket for four off pacer Abu Jayed and grew with confidence.

Abid was fluent in his approach and glanced off-spinner Mehidy Hasan for a couple to reach his third half-century off 84 balls.

Abdullah brought up his half-century in style, clubbing occasional bowler Mominul Haque for the maximum.

Bangladeshs hope of racking up a substantial total was dashed by fast bowler Hasan earlier.

Hasan broke Bangladesh’s resistance in the first session as the home side resumed on 253-4.

He alone took four wickets on day two with Bangladesh adding just 77 runs for the rest of the six wickets.

Hasan’s sixth five-for was well-complemented by his new ball partner Shaheen Shah Afridi who returned figures of 2-70 and medium pacer Faheem Ashraf, 2-54.

For Bangladesh, Liton Das top-scored with 114 after hitting his maiden century and Mushfiqur Rahim added 91. Mehidy Hasan was not out on 38.

“When we lost four wickets before lunch, everyone thought we would be bowled out early. Mushfiqur and I put together a good partnership,” said Liton. “By the end of the day, we were thinking about a big total. But cricket is unpredictable. Pakistan are in a good position now. If we can take two or three wickets tomorrow morning, we will be back on par.”

Liton, starting the day with 113, added just one run before Hasan had him leg-before, which the umpire disagreed, only for the decision be overturned on review.

Debutant Yasir Ali spent some nervy moments in the crease and survived a leg-before review by Pakistan.

However, he got off the mark in international cricket with a cover-drive four off Shaheen on the 14th ball he faced.

But Hasan tested him with short balls and finally rattled his leg and middle stumps with a delivery that jagged in sharply.

Bangladesh relied on overnight unbeaten Mushfiqur to take the side to safety and he grew with confidence, hitting Shaheen for a boundary through backward point.

Medium pacer Faheem moved the ball nicely to coax an edge from him as Mushfiqur, who reviewed the decision in vain, fell nine runs short of his eighth century.

After losing three wickets for just 23 runs, the much-needed resistance came from Mehidy who guided lower order amid the well directed short ball barrage of Shaheen and Hasan.

Hasan cleaned up the tail to bring an end to the innings.

Scoreboard

BANGLADESH (1st Innings, overnight 253-4):

Shadman Islam lbw b Hasan 14

Saif Hassan c Abid b Shaheen 14

Najmul Hossain c Sajid b Faheem 14

Mominul Haque c Rizwan b Sajid 6

Mushfiqur Rahim c Rizwan b Faheem 91

Liton Das lbw b Hasan 114

Yasir Ali b Hasan 4

Mehidy Hasan not out 38

Taijul Islam c Abdullah b Shaheen 11

Abu Jayed c Abdullah b Hasan 8

Ebadot Hossain b Hasan 0

EXTRAS (LB-14, W-1, NB-1) 16

TOTAL (all out; 114.4 overs) 330

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-19 (Saif), 2-33 (Shadman), 3-47 (Mominul), 4-49 (Najmul), 5-255 (Liton), 6-267 (Yasir), 7-276 (Mushfiqur), 8-304 (Taijul), 9-330 (Jayed).

BOWLING: Shaheen 27-8-70-2, Hasan 20.4-5-51-5, Faheem 14-2-54-2 (1w), Sajid 27-5-79-1, Nauman 26-6-62-0 (1nb).

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Abid Ali not out 93

Abdullah Shafique not out 52

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for no loss, 57 overs) 145

TO BAT: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan, Faheem Ashraf, Nauman Ali, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Sajid Khan.

BOWLING (to-date): Jayed 10-0-30-0, Ebadot 12-3-31-0, Taijul 19-5-39-0, Mehidy 13-4-33-0, Mominul 3-0-12-0.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2021

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