PAK vs BAN 2024, PAK vs BAN 2nd Test Match Report, August 30 – September 03, 2024

Pakistan 183 for 5 (Rizwan 18*, Agha 0*, Taskin 2-32, Mehidy 2-41) vs Bangladesh

Rain had washed out the first day of the Test, but the teams were greeted by a warm and sunny morning on Saturday. Given the moisture in the pitch, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto had no hesitation in bowling first in what is now a four-day Test.

Taskin, who returned from a shoulder injury, proved his captain right. After bowling five outswingers to Shafique, he got the last ball to nip back off the seam. Shafique was not prepared for it. He came forward to defend but left a huge gap between the bat and the pad. The ball sneaked through and hit the top of off stump.

For a while, Taskin and Hasan Mahmud kept Ayub quiet by bowling predominantly from around the wicket. Ayub was on 4 off 25 balls at one point, but hit three fours in the next 11 balls he faced. Masood was positive right from the start, which meant the fifty stand between them took just 68 balls.

It was not that the Bangladesh seamers did not induce mistakes, but none of them particularly landed the Pakistan batters in trouble. Nahid Rana hit Masood on the thumb with a short ball. When he tried the same ploy against Ayub, the opener pulled him over the deep-square-leg fielder for a six.

As the day progressed, the pitch eased out. Ten minutes before lunch, Masood brought up his fifty, off just 54 balls. He hit only two fours in his fifty, which made it the fastest fifty in Test cricket since 2002 with two, or fewer, boundaries.

Masood and Ayub added 107 for the second wicket before Mehidy snared both. Bowling around the wicket, he first trapped Masood lbw with the one that straightened after pitching. Ayub brought up his fifty with a pulled four off Rana but when he came out of his crease to smash Mehidy, the offspinner beat him in flight and had him stumped.

Mehidy had an opportunity to increase Pakistan’s woes even more, but he dropped a regulation catch of Shakeel at second slip off Rana’s bowling. Had the catch been taken, Pakistan would have been 125 for 4.

Shakeel failed to take advantage of the reprieve, though. He did hit Taskin for back-to-back fours but chopped on the last ball of the over on to his stumps to be dismissed for 16.

At 151 for 4, Pakistan were relying on Babar and Rizwan for the umpteenth time to pull them out of trouble. The pair added 28 before Shakib dismissed Babar lbw with an arm ball that kept a touch low. In the same over, Shakib could have had Agha too but Zakir Hasan failed to latch on to a difficult bat-pad chance at short leg.

Bangladesh’s main concern at the moment is Mushfiqur Rahim, who hurt his right shoulder while trying to stop a boundary in the 53rd over and walked off the field. Apart from that, they need to improve their over rate. They have bowled only 55 overs in four and a half hours.

Earlier, Pakistan “rested” Naseem Shah for this Test. With Shaheen Shah Afridi also left out, Pakistan’s four frontline bowlers have played a combined 16 Tests, with legspinner Abrar with six being the most experienced.