Taijul jolts Pakistan's progress

Pakistan were 70 for two at lunch on the opening day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Wednesday.

The tourists lost the wickets of Mohammad Hafeez (eight) and Sami Aslam (19) in the morning session after Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field.

The players troop off for lunch. At the break, Azhar Ali was unbeaten on 36 and Younis Khan was on one.

The first day has been full of a lot of things happening began with two balls into the second test, Shahadat collapsed in his follow through and hobbled off the field. Azhar Ali nicked a no ball to slips; Mohammad Shahid playing the penalty for indiscipline, but Bangladesh have managed to prise out two wickets. Azhar has settled down and will look to rebuild the innings with Younis. And Shahadat will resume bowling after the break.

A few overs before the lunch, Taijul bagged the wicket of Sami Aslam, who tried to chip one over the mid-wicket fence but found the fielder in the deep. Pakistan’s most experienced batsman Younis Khan came in as the new batsman to join and build a partnership with the well set batsman, Azhar Ali. Bangladesh will be delighted to pick up this wicket.

Earlier, Mohammad Hafeez (8 runs) departed, after being caught behind in the bowling of Mohammad Shahid. What a ball it was! A Short of a length delivery angling into the right-hander, the ball just left the batsman after pitching and Hafeez couldn’t control it.

Earlier in the morning, Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and sent Pakistan in to bat in the second and final Test at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka on Wednesday.

Both sides made one change each from the drawn first Test in Khulna, with Bangladesh replacing the injured Rubel Hossain with Shahadat Hossain and Pakistan dropping spinner Zulfiqar Babar to play an additional seamer in Imran Khan.

Bangladesh hope to build on their new-found confidence by securing their first-ever Test victory over Pakistan in this match.

Pakistan are yet to emerge as the winning side in their disastrous tour of Bangladesh, having drawn the first Test at Khulna. It was a run-fest, with three innings being played in the span of five days. While Mohammad Hafeez starred with a double-ton then helped Pakistan score 628 during their only innings, the highlight of the match was the record 312-run opening stand between Tamim Iqbal (206) and Imrul Kayes (150).

Pakistan are looking for their first win at the end of the month-long tour where they were routed 3-0 in the one-day series and also lost a Twenty20 international for the first time against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Team

Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim*†, Soumya Sarkar, Shuvagata Hom, Taijul Islam, Shahadat Hossain, Mohammad Shahid

Pakistan Team

Sami Aslam, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq*, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed†, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah, Junaid Khan, Imran Khan

Bangladesh had their attack weakened since the first Test in Khulna, where fast bowler Rubel Hossain sustained a side strain. Seamer Shahadat Hossain replaced him at the Shere Bangla. Mushfiqur himself was battling injury, but said at the toss that he had to play.

Pakistan may have also seen something unusual in the surface, however, as they opted to jettison left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar in favour of seamer Imran Khan, who will play his fourth Test.

The visitors are winless so far on tour. They were whitewashed in the limited-overs series, lost the only T20, and allowed the first Test to peter out to a high-scoring draw.

Bangladesh: 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Imrul Kayes, 3 Mominul Haque, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), 6 Shakib Al Hasan, 7 Soumya Sarkar 8 Shuvagata Hom, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Shahadat Hossain, 11 Mohammad Shahid

Pakistan: 1 Sami Aslam, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed, 8 Wahab Riaz, 9 Junaid Khan, 10 Yasir Shah, 11 Imran Khan