Barring a few lbw scares, Bangladesh looked in control of proceedings on the second day's morning as the overnight pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Skipper MushfiqurRahim batted sensibly. The pair saw through the second new ball and ensured that the Tigers did not lose a single wicket in what was a one and a half hour morning session under foggy conditions.
Bangladesh was challenging Pakistan to put up a rare 400 plus target with Shakib and Mushfiqur looking solid on a pitch that was pretty slow and flat. However, a couple of consecutive deliveries changed the course of the day's play and could also have a big impact in the Test match. Pakistan's Skipper Misbah-Ul-Haq made some changes by bringing in fielders into the ring to prevent the easy singles. UmarGul was aiming at the rib cage from round the sticks to the little MushfiqurRahim and for Shakib Al Hasan, he was looking for the early false drives from the left hander. AizazCheema on the other hand stepped up the gas and was putting quite a lot of shoulder in his deliveries in the afternoon session.
There was a bit of pressure building up on the Bangladeshi pair in no time as the run flow came down drastically. In the 95th over, came the mistake under pressure and that resulted in a sad run out of Shakib Al Hasan whose mind was certainly towards achieving a maiden 150 of his entire cricketing career. It was a horrible mix-up between MushfiqurRahim and Shakib Al Hasan with the former tucking a short ball towards mid wicket and stuttered to take a single but only to change his mind in the end. That left Shakib desperately trying to regain his ground towards the non-striker's end and his luck ran out as TaufeeqUmar picked the ball cleanly and hit the bull's eye to break a promising 82-run partnership for the 6th wicket. It was certainly Mushfiqur's fault for misjudging the single, it was his call as the ball was played infront of square.
Just the ball after Shakib's departure, the Bangladeshi Captain MushfiqurRahim got out as well, leaving his side back in trouble at 305 for 7. It wasn't a wicket taking delivery at all from UmarGul but nevertheless, the little MushfiqurRahim found the bounce down the legside too high for his comfort and could only nick his attempted leg glance to the keeper. Bangladesh from what was 305 for 5 slipped down quickly to 338 all out and thus losing the golden opportunity of dictating terms with Pakistan in the rest of the Test Match. It certainly would have been a different story for the Tigers but for those two consecutive deliveries from UmarGul!
- BV Swagath
