Day 4
Bangladesh 332 and 273 for 0 (Tamim 138*, Kayes 132*) trail Pakistan 628 (Hafeez 224, Azhar 83, Shafiq 83, Sarfraz 82, Taijul 6-163) by 23 runs
The prospect of surviving five sessions under a heavy deficit against a potent bowling attack would have forced most sides into a shell. Ten years ago in Dhaka, Bangladesh had batted out 142 overs against Zimbabwe to force a draw and win their first Test series. Nafees Iqbal had knuckled down to score 121 in almost six hours in that match.
Faced with a daunting deficit of 296, Nafees' brother Tamim Iqbal, however, chose an alternative approach. He kept all diffidence aside in a blistering century - his third in three Tests, his seventh overall and his first against Pakistan - that helped Bangladesh slice off almost all of Pakistan's daunting lead in just over two sessions. Along with Imrul Kayes, who was close on Tamim's heels with his third Test century, he added 273 runs in 61 overs during an unbeaten stand that not only beat the record of Bangladesh's best opening set by the same pair in the the team's previous Test, it also was their best stand for any wicket.
If there was any help for the bowlers from the pitch, it remained buried deep under the solidity of the two batsmen. The ball reversed, but often found the middle of the bat; it turned, too, but was regularly carted away over the boundary ropes. Only twice, Pakistan came close to breaking the stand as Tamim was hit on the pads, but in both instances, the decision stayed with the umpire after Pakistan asked for a review.
It was a riposte Pakistan would have least expected after their continued dominance on the fourth morning. Even though left-arm spinner Taijul Islam ended with figures of 6 for 163 - his third five-for in sixth Test - as Pakistan lost their last five wickets for 34 runs, the damage had seemingly been done. Leading by 205 runs at the start of the fourth day, Sarfraz Ahmed and Asad Shafiq had extended the dominance with a 126-run stand for the sixth wicket. Both batsmen missed out on centuries but Pakistan's total propped up to 628, their best against Bangladesh.
The four overs Bangladesh had to play before lunch hid completely the approach they were going to take in the innings. Only six runs were scored after Tamim had narrowly survived an appeal for lbw off the first delivery from Junaid Khan. In the first over after lunch, though, Tamim carved the same bowler stylishly with a back-foot punch through backward point. In the next over from Wahab Riaz, Tamim picked up two consecutive boundaries with the pull shot.
If one thought it was a brief tactic to score quickly off the faster bowlers on a pitch that was still good for batting, before the arrival of spin, Tamim was to prove it wrong. He came out of the crease on the second ball bowled by Zulfiqar Babar but was lucky to mistime the lofted shot as it landed only couple of meters short of the fielder at deep midwicket. Had he holed out, his method would have surely been termed reckless.
A classic cover drive off Yasir Shah in the next over brought the 50 for Bangladesh, in 12.5 overs. The next 50 was even quicker; it came in 9.1 overs as Kayes joined in as well. Pakistan's spinners were constantly made to adjust their lengths as both batsmen jumped out of the crease without warning.
A reverse-swept boundary off Zulfiqar brought up Tamim's first fifty against Pakistan. The next ball disappeared over long-on. When brought on, Hafeez was served the same treatment, with Tamim smashing him down the ground for his second six in the bowler's second over and Kayes picking up a six and a four in his third to bring up Bangladesh's 100 in the 22nd over. When Tamim slowed down, Kayes picked up, reaching his half-century off 80 balls.
The pair tightened up in the third session, keeping the reverse-swing out, before a brace of boundaries off Junaid took Tamim to his fourth second-innings century off 123 balls. The innings put him ahead of Mohammad Ashraful on the list of Bangladesh batsmen with most centuries.
Kayes was equally impressive and adventurous. He had been squatting behind the stumps as a substitute wicketkeeper for more than 100 overs over the last couple of days after Mushfiqur had injured his right hand. Eight overs into the day, Kayes, in an act of self-preservation, passed on the gloves to Mahmudullah. That came in handy as he survived a bout of cramps to reach the century-mark off 153 balls with the help of 11 fours and three sixes. By the end of the day, he had caught up with Tamim.
It was a highly unlikely turn of events. But it was such a day. Earlier, Mahmudullah, who was keeping wickets for the first time in international cricket, was reminded of the job responsibilities by Sarfraz. The batsman blocked in front of the pitch and directed Mahmudullah to pick up the ball, but then went on himself to lob it towards the bowler. If Pakistan were expecting similar generosity from Bangladesh's batsmen, it never came.
Day 3
Pakistan 537 for 5 (Hafeez 224, Azhar 83, Misbah 59) lead Bangladesh 332 by 205 runs
Mohammad Hafeez had missed a double-century twice in the past after coming close. He was dismissed for 196 against Sri Lanka in 2012 and had fallen short by three runs last year against New Zealand. But continuing on the flawless effort of the second day in Khulna, and on his recent Test form in general, Hafeez finally passed the landmark.
By the time he was dismissed for 224, the best by a Pakistan batsman against Bangladesh, Hafeez had helped his team strengthen their hold on the Test with a lead of 80, which then swelled to 205 by the end of the day after half-centuries from Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed.
It wasn't a surprise that he slowed down after entering 190s. It took him 14 deliveries to get off 190. Then, after reaching 198 with a crisp straight drive off Mohammad Shahid, Hafeez had to wait 11 more deliveries to find the couple he needed. As Taijul Islam drifted on to the leg side, Hafeez paddled fine and scampered through for the second run, completing his double-century in 286 deliveries.
The calmness of Hafeez's celebration belied the enormity of the landmark. He took his helmet off, raised the bat, offering nothing more than a smile, then kneeled down for the sajda. He smashed a boundary immediately after passing 200, but assumed a quieter approach thereafter, which did not bode well for Bangladesh. But after looking settled for more, Hafeez was unlucky to glove a wide delivery down the leg side from Shuvagata Hom straight into the hands of leg gully.
Hafeez was almost unbreakable, and over large portions of the day, so was everyone else around him. The Bangladesh bowlers lacked penetration on a slow pitch, offering regular doses of boundary-balls, and the batsmen were never really made to work hard for runs. The most glaring for Bangladesh was the ineffectiveness of Shakib Al Hasan, who had a ten-wicket haul in his last Test at the ground, but with figures of 31-3-122-0, he was the most expensive of the frontline bowlers.
With Azhar Ali, Hafeez added 227, the second double-century partnership between the two. The 62-run third-wicket stand between Hafeez and Younis Khan took Pakistan past Bangladesh's total in the 87th over. And by tea, another 63-run partnership between Hafeez and Misbah had taken Pakistan past 400.
All through the day, the moment the Bangladesh spinners tried to flatten the trajectory, the ball sat up and was worked away to the leg side. Hafeez had scored most of his boundaries in that direction on the second day and he started with a pull in the first over of the third when Shakib pitched short. He reached his 150 in the seventh over of the morning with a calm push to mid-off.
Azhar, too, waited for that length and picked up a couple of boundaries on either side of the pitch off Shakib, the second one bringing up the double-century partnership. But just when Azhar looked set for a century, he was surprised by a quicker delivery from Shuvagata. The offspinner extracted just enough turn from the pitch to beat Azhar's lazy push and hit the middle stump.
The wicket was a cue for Shuvagata to continue bowling quicker through the air. He surprised Younis with bounce and turn early on his innings and had Hafeez making a rare error. Attempting a sweep, Hafeez missed another quicker delivery to be hit on the front pad. Tamim Iqbal, the stand-in captain, asked for a review but the impact was outside the line of off stump.
Four overs later, Hafeez hoisted Shuvagata over long-on for a six that brought up the team's 300 and Pakistan were off again. With Younis employing an array of shots and his partnership with Hafeez reaching 50 in 69 balls, Bangladesh were forced to take the new ball in the 84th over.
Rubel's outswing surprised Younis more than once but it was Taijul's flight that caught him out on the wrong foot. Bowling first change with the new ball, Taijul, out of nowhere, got one to grip the surface. Stuck in the crease, Younis was squared up completely as the ball spun away from middle-stump line to graze the off stump.
Misbah arrived and launched his third delivery, from Taijul, down the ground for a six. He was quick on his feet against the spinners and hit powerful pulls, reverse-sweeps and another six down the ground. Misbah could only stretch his innings to 59 before top-edging a sweep to deep backward square leg, but his 66-run partnership with Shafiq had given Bangladesh no respite.
The late aggression of Sarfraz, who scored 51 off 54 balls in a rapid half-century stand with Shafiq, had almost slammed the door on the home side.
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