RAWALPINDI: Just when Paki­stan needed someone to steady a seemingly sinking ship, up stepped Saim Ayub and Saud Shakeel.

With their team tottering at 16-3 after overnight rain had forced a late start to the first Test against Bangladesh due to a wet outfield, left-handers Saim and Saud struck gritty half-centuries to steer the hosts to 158-4 at stumps at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Saim scored 56 for his maiden Test fifty before he fell while Saud was unbeaten on 57; their 98-run partnership giving Pakistan a good platform to build upon. Mohammad Rizwan was unbeaten on 24 at the other end.

“We lost early wickets so it was important to build partnerships and we did that and I am sure the good work will continue tomorrow,” Saim told reporters after the day’s close.

Wet patches on the outfield from early morning rain had delayed the toss for 230 minutes before Bang­ladesh won the toss and wreaked havoc through their pace bowlers — Shoriful Islam (2-30) and Hasan Mahmud (2-33) — on a helpful pitch.

“We tried to bowl in the right areas and got early success,” Hasan, who dismissed Saim in the final session. “We will come up with a plan to get early wickets on this pitch tomorrow.”

There was no action in the morning but after the wet patches dried up in bright sunshine, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto wasted no time in sending Pakistan in to bat and his decision to field brought Bangladesh early success as the fast bowlers swung the ball well on a greenish wicket.

Hasan lured Abdullah Shafique (two) to go for an early ambitious drive and Zakir Hasan took a spectacular acrobatic catch in the gully while diving full length to his right in the fourth over.

Shoriful then struck twice in as many overs with captain Shan Masood and former skipper Babar Azam both back in the pavilion after being caught behind by Litton Das.

Shan (six) fell to a contentious caught behind decision from television umpire Darren Gough as left-arm fast bowler Shoriful’s delivery jagged back into the southpaw.

Gough ruled in Bangladesh’s favor after the tourists went for a TV referral of on-field decision of not out. Ma­­s­ood argued with on-field umpire Ric­hard Kettleb­orough before walking off in disbelief as TV replays showed the ball had clipped his pad after going past the bat without contact.

Babar’s struggles in red-ball cricket continued for the seventh successive Test as he tried to flick Shoriful down the leg side and was brilliantly snapped up by wicket-keeper Das for his first home-ground duck in 14 Tests.

It paved the way for Saim and Saud to come together and the duo patiently saw off the early seam and swing before negating the off-spin of Mehidy Hasan Miraz with sweep shots to lead the hosts to 81-3 at tea.

They continued to milk runs in the final session until Bangladesh struck back by removing Saim in the 32nd over.

Saim, who hit four boundaries and a six in his 98-ball knock, lost his concentration and a wild drive off Hasan found Mehidy at third slip.

But Saud, who earlier became the joint-fastest Pakistan batsman to 1,000 Test runs alongside Saeed Ahmed, and Rizwan stuck together to prevent any more damage, adding 44 runs for the fifth wicket. It was Saud’s seventh half-century in his 10th Test innings.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN (1st Innings):

Abdullah Shafique c Zakir b Hasan 2

Saim Ayub c Mehidy b Hasan 56

Shan Masood c Litton b Shoriful 6

Babar Azam c Litton b Shoriful 0

Saud Shakeel not out 57

Mohammad Rizwan not out 24

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-3, NB-2) 13

TOTAL (for four wickets, 41 overs) 158

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-3 (Abdullah), 2-14 (Shan), 3-16 (Babar), 4-114 (Saim)

STILL TO BAT: Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali

BOWLING: Shoriful 12-4-30-2, Hasan 13-3-33-2, Nahid 10-0-48-0 (2nb), Mehidy 4-0-24-0, Shakib Al Hasan 2-0-12-0

BANGLADESH: Najmul Hossain, Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2024