Bangladesh’s resilient batting on Day 3 of the first Test cut Pakistan’s 421-run lead to 132, with Shadman Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Litton Das spearheading the fightback.
New Delhi: At Rawalpindi, on the third day of the first Test, Bangladesh reduced Pakistan’s dominant lead of 421 runs to just 132, based on fighting innings by Shadman Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, and Litton Das. Though set a daunting task after Pakistan declared at 448-6 on Day 2, Bangladesh batsmen kept the team in the hunt, fighting it out in the scorching heat.
Shadman Islam made a strong anchor with an innings of 93 off 183 balls, fighting through the early Pakistan attack which saw the man himself, Zakir Hasan, and Najmul Hossain Shanto dismissed for 12 and 16, respectively. His effort lasted a shade over five and a half hours as Mohammad Ali finally got his better in the 66th over.
Even though Shadman was dismissed, Mominul Haque played an essential half-century until he fell to the off-break of Khurram Shahzad. Still, Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das continued to resist, keeping Bangladesh in the competition.
They were on stumps with Rahim and Das unbeaten on 55 and 52 respectively, providing a strong counter-attack towards the end of the day. Bangladesh took full advantage of Pakistan’s inability to use the new ball to good effect, adding 67 in the last 11 overs till stumps.
Nevertheless, Bangladesh still has a lot to do to take a grip on this two-match series. Pakistan still enjoys a healthy lead and is inching closer to Bangladesh’s lower order.
When Pakistan captain Shan Masood declared and sent Bangladesh in with about an hour remaining on day two, he would expect quick wickets and a fine first-innings lead. However, at the end of day three, it was such expectations that had been thrown to the surface by an unbroken display of Bangladesh batting, doing quite well under trying conditions to whittle down Pakistan’s advantage.
The hosts’ bowlers, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah, all had very expensive spells—0-53, 0-55, and 1-77, respectively—which Pakistan will want improved efforts from on Saturday.