RAWALPINDI: Just when Pakistan felt they were on the top, Bangladesh fought back. Putting up a show of resilience, the visitors rose from absolute shambles to strong position in the second Test here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Early on the second day of the contest, pacer Khurram Shehzad had left Bangladesh reeling at 26-6 in response to Pakistan’s first innings total of 274.

But what followed was a counter-punching 165-run partnership between Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Litton Das — who scored a fighting century to minimise the deficit to just 12 runs, also thanks to his ninth-wicket stand for 69 more with Hasan Mahmud —before the Bangladesh bowlers left Pakistan in spot of bother at 9-2.

Litton’s exploits off 138 off 228 (13 fours and four sixes) shadowed a brilliant bowling performance by Khurram, which saw him register his career-best figures of 6-90.

He struck first when Bangladesh opener Zakir Hasan holed him out to Abrar Ahmed at square-leg after they had added only four runs to their overnight score of 10-0.

Khurram then dislodged Shadman Islam’s leg-stump seven balls later before castling Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain with a sharp inswinger. From the other end, pacer Mir Hamza had Mominul Haque caught at mid-on, thanks to a deceptive slower-one, and forced an outside edge off Mushfiqur Rahim for the right-hander to get caught behind.

Khurram got his fourth wicket when he trapped veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan before Mehidy and Litton fought back for Bangladesh.

The duo displayed positive stroke-making as the freshness of the pitch slightly died down top give a bit more to the batters to benefit from.

Khurram was struck for four fours in the 31st over — Litton smashing for three of them while Mehidy playing through the offside for one — as Bangladesh crossed the 100-run mark.

Litton brought up his 50 in 83 balls while Mehidy reached the milestone in 81 deliveries in the 39th and 40th over respectively. Mehidy became Khurram’s fifth dismissal, pushing the ball softly into the bowler’s hands at 78 before the pacer trapped the incoming Taskin Ahmed.

Pakistan could have made further inroads soon after that had Abrar held on to a caught and bowled chance to dismiss Litton when the batter was playing at 90, but fate had it for him to bring up his fourth Test century with a square-cut off the spinner.

He stuck on the crease to score 38 more, thanks to Hasan’s supporting knock of 13 off 51 at the other end to push Bangladesh to 262 before getting caught at long-on off Salman Ali Agha’s off-spin.

Litton admitted he was a little nervous at the start but happy by the end.

“I took it positively and took responsibility,” he said, adding that batting was not easy on the pitch.

“We did not plan for very long. When I started with Shakib, he got out early. When Miraz came in, the only thing that we discussed was how to break their momentum. Credit goes to Miraz. I was injured after I got hit by the ball. Miraz put Pakistan on the backfoot with his shot-making.” Hasan then went on to shine with the ball as well, dismissing out-of-form Pakistan opener Abdullah Shafique and nightwatchman Khurram, leaving the match almost hanging in the balance.

Khurram believed Bangladesh’s response to early wickets was unfortunate for Pakistan.

“Such phases do come in Tests as we had one good session but then unfortunately they built a good partnership and we struggled,” he said.

“We believe in our batting and I think we can set a challenging target for them,” he added.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN (1st Innings) 274 ((Saim Ayub 58, Shan Masood 57, Salman Ali Agha 54; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 5-61, Taskin Ahmed 3-57)

BANGLADESH (1st Innings, overnight 10-0):

Shadman Islam b Khurram 10

Zakir Hasan c Abrar b Khurram 1

Najmul Hossain b Khurram 4

Mominul Haque c Ali b Hamza 1

Mushfiqur Rahim c Rizwan b Hamza 3

Shakib Al Hasan lbw b Khurram 2

Litton Das c Saim b Salman 138

Mehidy Hasan c&b Khurram 78

Taskin Ahmed lbw b Khurram 1

Hasan Mahmud not out 13

Nahid Rana lbw b Salman 0

EXTRAS (B-6, NB-4, W-1) 11

TOTAL (all out, 78.4 overs) 262

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14 (Zakir), 2-19 (Shadman), 3-20 (Najmul), 4-20 (Mominul), 5-26 (Mushfiqur), 6-26 (Shakib), 7-191 (Mehidy), 8-193 (Taskin), 9-262 (Litton)

BOWLING: Hamza 16-1-50-2 (1w, 1nb), Khurram 21-3-90-6 (2nb), Ali 7-2-20-0, Abrar 31-5-83-0 (1nb), Salman 3.4-0-13-2

PAKISTAN (2nd Innings):

Abdullah Shafique c Litton b Hasan 3

Saim Ayub not out 6

Khurram Shahzad b Hasan 0

TOTAL (for two wickets, 3.4 overs) 9

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-7 (Abdullah), 2-9 (Khurram)

STILL TO BAT: Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Abrar, Mohammad Ali, Mir Hamza BOWLING: Taskin 2-0-6-0, Hasan 1.4-0-3-2

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2024