Analysis: The natural order has been restored

KARACHI: It took some time in coming but finally the natural order of things has been restored. Bangladesh dominated the visitors in the ODI series, dictated proceedings in the only T20 and defied the odds in the first Test but now, at long last, their resilience seems to have been broken.

With a third consecutive day of almost utter control, Misbahul Haq’s men are separated by their first win of the tour by just nine wickets on a track that is starting to produce dangerously uneven bounce and turn.

The writing was already on the wall when, after day two, half of the Bangladesh batting line-up was already back in the pavilion at 107-5, still trailing by 450. It was more of the same on day three and Soumya Sarkwar was dismissed in just the third over of the day.

His partners falling like flies all around him, Shakib alHasan decided he had to do it all on his own and started to take the attack to Pakistan in an effort to reduce the lead and buy Bangladesh time; even though saving the follow-on was always going to be impossible. Shakib was well supported by Muhammad Shahid for the last wicket, with a 63-run partnership frustrating the visitors — Shahid made only one run in those 63 but kept his end shored up until Yasir Shah induced a leading edge from him.

With a lead of 354, Misbah decided to take the safer option and opted not to enforce the follow-on — clearly unwilling to bat in the fourth-innings on a fast deteriorating Mirpur pitch, especially considering the plethora of spinners at Mushfiqur Rahim’s disposal. Misbah’s defensive approach was also the natural order of things.

While early Pakistan wickets gave the crowd something to cheer about, the joy seemed hollow for the Bangladesh players as the lead continued to swell. Again, the natural order of things was restored as the usual suspects, Younus Khan and Misbah, steadied the ship.

The formula here was almost a carbon copy of Pakistan’s recent successes against Australia and New Zealand. All that was missing was the acceleration, with the batsmen being surprisingly slow at the start of Pakistan’s innings. But that too came soon enough.

Sarfraz Ahmed’s arrival out in the middle to join Misbah was the precursor of the impending aggression — the natural order. The two put on a 55-run partnership off just 36 balls at over nine runs an over; the acceleration that everyone had been waiting for. And by the time Misbah holed out to deep midwicket off Mahmudullah — having made 82 off 72 balls to take Pakistan to 195-6 — the skipper decided a target of 550 was impossible to reach and declared.

To their credit the Bangladeshi openers, Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, batted positively; as they often do. The faster-bowlers were negotiated with varying degrees of comfort — as many exquisite flicks and booming cover drives as swing-and-misses and close calls.

Then along came Yasir Shah, the harbinger of Bangladesh’s demise at the end of day two. The pitch was a livewire, the lights were fading, the natural order of things would have been a wicket.

And it was a day for the natural order of things. A superb delivery, pitching way outside off in the rough took an almost square turn to sneak in between Kayes’ bat and pad to smash into the timber.

Now only nine batsmen remain and the omens do not bode well for the hosts, who are almost certain to suffer their first defeat of the tour save for some help from the gods of rain.

Bangladesh have shown in recent times that they are made of resilient stuff but this Test has restored the natural order of things, the usual patterns have returned, and there seems to be little room for a second great escape by the Bangladeshi batsmen. The celebrations, more of relief than joy, can almost begin for Pakistan.