PAK vs BAN: Pakistan all out for 274 runs as Mehidy Hasan Miraz picks up a five-wicket haul

The second test match of the two-match test series between Pakistan and Bangladesh is being played at Rawalpindi’s Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

While the first day of the second test got washed out due to rain, the second day was a really good one as Bangladesh, who won the toss and opted to field first, dominated the Pakistani batting unit completely as the home side got all-out for a total of 274 runs.

Off-Break bowler Mediy Hasan Miraz was the pick of the Bangladeshi bowlers as he took a really good five wicket haul with figures of 5-61 next to his name while seamer Taskin Ahmed played a good supportive hand as well as he picked up three important wickets of Abdullah Shafique, Salman Ali Agha and Saud Shakeel and ended the first inning with figures of 3-57 next to his name.

The Green Shirts got off to a horrible start as Bangladeshi seamer Taskin Ahmed sent the stumps of Abdullah Shafique for a walk and the opener was sent back to the pavilion without scoring a single run.

But, the home side executed the recovery process in a good fashion as opener Saim Ayub and skipper Shan Masood stitched a partnership of 100+ runs for the second wicket and ended the first session of the second test match in a dominating fashion. Shan was going after the Bangladeshi bowlers from one end while his partner Saim Ayub kept hold of the other end.

However, post the conclusion of the lunch period, both the set batters got dismissed after scoring their respective half-centuries as the visitors executed a comeback. Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped Shan Masood for 57 runs in front of the stumps while Saim Ayub got stumped after playing a good inning of 58 runs.

Following the dismissals of both the set batters, the duo of Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel joined hands at the crease but the latter wasn’t able to stay for a long time as he nicked the ball directly into the stumps off the bowling of Taskin Ahmed and thus he got out very cheaply. 

In the final over before tea, experienced left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan foxed Babar Azam in front of the stumps and he too went back after playing a decent knock of 31 runs in 77 deliveries.

This dismissal against Bangladesh meant that Azam has not scored a half century in his last 15 Test Cricket innings and he will have to find a way to return to his best if he wants to help his team to stay alive in the race of qualifying for the final of the World Test Champion (WTC) 2023-2025 cycle.

After losing Babar before the tea break, things got even worse for the Shan Masood-led team as the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led team’s bowling attack continued with their attacking intent and kept on picking important wickets in the final session of Day two of the second test.

Fast bowler Nahid Rana got the better of the previous game’s centurion Mohammad Rizwan (29 runs in 63 balls) as he balled a beautiful back of a length delivery that managed to clip the edge of Rizwan’s bat.

Salman Ali Agha came into bat at number seven and he started the revival process of the Shaheen’s embarrassing inning and played an important knock of 54 runs in 95 deliveries.

However, he didn’t find any support from the batters at the other end as Mehidy Hasan Miraz sent the duo of Mohammad Ali (2 runs in 16 balls) and Khurram Shehzad packing to the dugout (12 runs in 41 balls) which put Salman under a lot of pressure.

After bringing up his half-century, Agha wanted to play aggressive strokes but in the process of carrying on with his aggression, he gave his wicket away to Taskin Ahmed as Shakib Al Hasan held on to a difficult catch.

Once Salman Ali Agha got dismissed, things became easier for the bowling unit of the visitors as Abrar Ahmed was the final Pakistani batter to fall after he got stumped and his dismissal meant off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Meraz picked up his 10th five-wicket haul in the longest format of the game.

Talking about the batting performance of Bangladesh, the opening duo of Zakir Hasan (0* runs in 3 balls) and Shadman Islam (6 runs in 9 balls) played out the first two overs successfully at the stroke of stumps. Najmul Hossain Shanto and his men trail by 264 runs.

Pakistan 1st Innings 

Bangladesh 1st Innings 

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