Big Abid-Shafique stand put Pakistan in control

Stumps Pakistan 145 for 0 (Abid 93*, Shafique 52*) trail Bangladesh 330 (Liton 114, Mushfiqur 91, Hasan 5-51) by 185 runs

Hasan Ali's fifth Test five-for this year - and sixth overall - put Bangladesh on the back foot before openers Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique cemented Pakistan's dominance on the second day of the Chattogram Test. Abid was unbeaten on 93, nearing his fourth Test century, while debutant Shafique had hit a half-century when the day's play ended, Pakistan 145 for no loss after bowling Bangladesh out for 330.

They blunted a Bangladesh bowling attack in which the pacers only tried a fourth-stump channel, often veering too wide, and the spinners were happy to only contain the batters. The absence of the more penetrative Shakib Al Hasan and Taskin Ahmed is already being felt.

Abid and Shafique had already put on 79 during the middle session, offering very little to the Bangladesh bowlers. Abid was the enforcer, reaching his fifty off 84 balls, while Shafique was mostly circumspect. He reached his fifty off 153 balls, striking two sixes over midwicket and mid-on, apart from hitting two fours.

Abid was the more enterprising all along, hitting six of his nine boundaries between backward point and cover. Both his sixes came through midwicket, as he looked to settle down for the long haul.

Bangladesh's only sniff came in the 13th over when Taijul Islam appealed for lbw against Shafique. At first look, it seemed Shafique had struck the ball with his bat. Taijul couldn't convince his captain to take the review, which soon revealed that the ball had struck Shafique's pad first. He was a very strong candidate for lbw.

Pakistan too missed a couple of similar chances on the first day, but they didn't make the same mistakes on the second morning. Their ascendency began in the second over when Hasan's searing opening spell spoiled Bangladesh's first-day progress.

He trapped Liton Das lbw for 114 with a delivery that zipped into his back leg, and trapped him lbw. It ended the fifth-wicket stand, which yielded 206 runs with Mushfiqur Rahim, only the second double-hundred stand by Bangladesh against Pakistan.

The debutant Yasir Ali looked fine for 18 balls before a Hasan delivery, seaming in sharply, sent his stumps for a walk. Then Mushfiqur added nine runs to his overnight 82 before Faheem Ashraf had him caught behind.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz struck six fours in his unbeaten 38, but he was left stranded when Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan cleaned up the tail quickly. When Bangladesh bat a second time in the game, Hasan will be on a hat-trick, as he removed Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain off consecutive balls to close out the Bangladesh innings.

Source: ESPNcricinfo