Bangladesh require 143 runs on last day to register historic whitewash
Cricket
Rain brought early end to the play on day four
RAWALPINDI (Dunya News/ Reuters) – Rain brought an end to the play on Day 4 after Bangladesh got off to an aggressive start, chasing 185 to win the second Test match.
The play would resume tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9:45am.
Bangladesh scored 42 without losing any wicket in just seven overs of the second innings.
Bangladesh require 143 more runs with 10 wickets in hand on day five to register a historical whitewash against Pakistan in Pakistan.
Pakistan faltered in their second innings against Bangladesh on the fourth day of the second cricket Test here as they were bowled out for 172 at the Pindi Cricket Stadium here on Monday.
Hassan Mehmud claimed a fifer while Nahid Rana took four wickets. Taskin Ahmed also took a wicket.
Six of the Pakistan batters could not even enter the double figures. Abdullah Shafique 3, Saud Shakeel 2, Abrar 2, Mir Hamza 4, Khurram Shahzad and Muhammad Ali went without scoring.
Muhammad Rizwan, after getting a chance off a drop catch in the first slip on the first ball of his innings, scored 43, whereas Salman Agha remained not out on 47.
Skipper Shan Masood fell for 28 to Nahid Rana when he edged to wicketkeeper Litton Das around an hour after start of play.
Pakistan’s top order failed again as Abdullah Shafiq was out for three and Khurram Shahzad without scoring. Saim Ayub scored 20.
Babar Azam's deteriorating form continued as he fell for 11 runs.
Saud Shakeel after a brilliant innings in the first Test, lost his touch and got out to Nahid Rana for just two.
Earlier, Bangladesh's Litton Das hit a defiant 138 and Mehidy Hasan Miraz 78 as the tourists recovered from a precarious position to post 262 all out after Pakistan's Khurram Shahzad bagged six wickets on the third day.
Responding to Pakistan's first innings 274, Bangladesh were reduced to 26-6 and in danger of following on amid fiery fast bowling in the morning but Das and Miraz put together a 165-run stand for the seventh wicket to steady the ship.
Das hit 13 fours and four sixes in his 228-ball knock while Miraz, who claimed five wickets to skittle out Pakistan, showed his ability with the bat by hitting 12 fours and a six.
After a hard day of toil, Pakistan were 9-2 in their second innings at stumps for a slender lead of 21 as they bid to level the two-match series after losing the first test by 10 wickets.
Hasan Mahmud dismissed Abdullah Shafique and bowled night-watchman Shahzad on the final ball of the day.
Earlier, Bangladesh resumed on 10 for no loss having kept Pakistan quiet on Saturday after the opening day was washed out but they came under intense pressure immediately.
Generating plenty of pace and swing early on, Shahzad (6-90) got rid of Zakir Hasan and castled Shadman Islam and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto in his next over while Mir Hamza also joined in with two quick strikes.
Shahzad trapped the experienced Shakib Al Hasan lbw to leave the shell-shocked tourists in dire straits, still needing 98 runs to avoid the follow-on.
However, Miraz and Das staged a remarkable fightback from there as they guided Bangladesh to 75-6 at lunch and milked the Pakistan bowlers to bring up their half-centuries.
Shortly after hooking Shahzad for a huge six to take their partnership past 150 runs, Miraz offered the pace bowler an easy catch but Das kept going and brought up his fourth test century to frustrate Pakistan.
