ANALYSIS: Bangladesh’s newfound resilience extends to Tests

KARACHI: Butterfingered Pakistan fielders made their bowlers toil hard on the opening day of the Khulna Test against Bangladesh as the hosts expectedly buckled down in the longest format too — proving that their successes in the shorter formats were no fluke.

However, the hosts once again have the visitors’ graciousness to thank, who continued the trend of atrocious catching.

Yasir Shah, Muhammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and Zulfiqar Babar all dropped chances that could and should have been taken at Test level to pile on the agony for Misbahul Haq — playing his first match since announcing his ODI retirement after the World Cup.

The hosts would be satisfied with their first day’s returns of 236-4 but might rue the loss of Mominul Haque — who scored an obdurate 162-ball 80 before being dismissed by Zulfiqar Babar on the last ball of the day — especially if wickets tumble early on day two.

Junaid Khan was the only bowler who failed to claim a wicket, with the left-armer finding the placid nature of the pitch a real baptism of fire, especially since he seems to have lost a yard of pace following a spate of injuries in recent months. The conditions demanded added effort from the faster-bowlers and Wahab Riaz with his extra pace troubled the batsmen often with his shorter deliveries.

The Pakistan think-tank would be pleased by the efforts of Hafeez, who looked threatening especially against the left-handed batsmen. Like Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez too has remodelled his action but the impact on his bowling is a lot less compared to that on Ajmal’s.

The eleven selected for the match look good on paper and the much-maligned team management  made the right call by selecting Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar ahead of the ineffective Ajmal, who struggled for control and penetration in the two ODIs and the one-off T20 he featured in.

Sami Aslam, the 19-year old from Lahore, was handed his Test debut after an impressive ODI debut last week. The southpaw would open the innings with Hafeez, while the middle-order looks incredibly solid on paper with Azhar, Younus Khan, Misbahul Haq and Asad Shafiq occupying the four spots.

Pakistan must aim at restricting the hosts to a total under 350 tomorrow. After Momin’s dismissal, captain and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim remains the only experienced batsman ahead of debutant Soumya Sarkar.

All-rounder Shakib alHasan ended the day on 19 and he now has an important role to play with his captain and Sarkar, if Pakistan can dislodge the recognised batsmen early then they may be able to wrap up Bangladesh’s tail quickly.

The wicket is likely to stay batsmen friendly on day two and three and to counter the possibility of a fourth innings on the new Test venue; the tourists must grind out a big first-innings score.

Considering the recent purple patch of the batsmen against Australia and New Zealand, they are likely to cash in against the relatively inexperienced Bangladesh bowling; but then again one never knows with Pakistan.

 

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