close
close

DAY 4: Brilliant 191 from Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur puts Pakistan in danger in the first Test

DAY 4: Brilliant 191 from Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur puts Pakistan in danger in the first Test
Posted on | Posted on Theodore

Mushfiqur Rahim © Gallo Images

Veteran batsman Mushfiqur Rahim scored a brilliant 191 on the fourth day of the first Test in Rawalpindi on Saturday to give Bangladesh an outside chance of their first victory over Pakistan.

The diminutive batsman was the foundation of Bangladesh’s first-innings score of 565 – their highest Test score against Pakistan – and gave the visitors a first-innings lead of 117.

Pakistan finished the match with a score of 23-1, with Abdullah Shafique scoring 12 points and captain Shan Masood scoring nine.

The home team trails by 94 runs after reaching a score of 448-6 in the first innings.

Bangladesh, who have lost 12 of their 13 Test matches against Pakistan, will be hoping their spinners can add some momentum to a previously sluggish pitch in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan started poorly again when opener Saim Ayub hit a length ball from Shoriful Islam to wicket-keeper Liton Das after scoring just a single in the third over of their second innings.

MUSHFIQUR MAGIC

The day, however, belonged to Mushfiqur, who added 114 for the sixth wicket with Das (56) and then made a record 194 for the seventh wicket with Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who made a solid 77.

Bangladesh’s previous best Test result against Pakistan was 555-6 in Khulna in 2015.

Mehidy praised Mushfiqur’s batting.

“Mushfiqur played a great knock,” said Miraz, hoping that Bangladesh can win.

“The first hour tomorrow will definitely be important and if we get wickets early we have a good chance.”

Mushfiqur’s knock of eight hours and 42 minutes, which included 22 boundaries and a sixer, finally ended when he edged pacer Mohammad Ali to wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan.

He thus surpassed the previous highest individual score by a Bangladeshi batsman in Pakistan of 119, achieved by Javed Omar in Peshawar in 2003.

Mushfiqur was lucky to get a life on 150 when Babar Azam dropped him at the leg slip of Salman Agha.

Pakistan also felt that Mushfiqur was bowled leg-wide by Ali in the 59th minute, but umpire Richard Kettleborough’s original decision was overturned after review when the replay showed that the ball had missed the leg stump.

Mushfiqur then hit two boundaries against Shahzad and Saim Ayub before reaching his century, his eleventh in 89 Tests.

PARTNERSHIP EXPERIENCE

The partnership with Mehidy was the highest achieved by a team against Pakistan, surpassing the previous record of 186 set by New Zealanders Warren Lees and Richard Hadlee in Karachi in 1976.

Mehidy added another 37 runs to the total before Shaheen Shah Afridi and then Hasan Mahmud ducked him out and he finished with 2-88.

Naseem Shah ended Bangladesh’s innings by removing Shoriful Islam for 22 and finished with Pakistan’s best score of 3-93.

Shah admitted that the pitch did not help the pacers as expected.

“We haven’t gotten as much help from the pitch as we expected,” Shah said. “We’ve gotten so many wickets, so we have to think about how we can get the home advantage.”

The second and final test will also be played in Rawalpindi from August 30th.

PAKISTAN: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Agha Salman, Shaheen Shah Afridi

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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *