Sabbir, Mushfiq fifties propel Bangladesh

Bangladesh finished day one of their second and final Test match against Australia on 253 runs for the loss of six wickets with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 62 on a relatively slow pitch at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Monday. Australia spinner Nathan Lyon took five wickets for 77 runs to finish an entertaining day of Test cricket in the port city. Bangladesh won the toss and as expected, elected to bat first on a pitch which was predicted to be slow. Although there was not much turn on day one, the surface seems slow while the outfield was quite slow as well compared to Dhaka’s Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium. The Tigers made one change from the Mirpur Test playing XI. Paceman Shafiul Islam, who bowled six overs in the first innings and did not even bowl in the second essay, got dropped and top-order batsman Mominul Haque replaced him. The Aussies also made changes to their playing XI. Paceman Josh Hazlewood was injured and as guessed correctly in many quarters, spinner Steve O’Keefe was recalled to the XI straightaway. The surprise call-up however, was that of batsman Usman Khawaja, who made way for all-rounder Hilton Cartwright.Bangladesh made a cautious start as the opening bowling pair of paceman Pat Cummins and Lyon bowled in good areas and did not give any room to the Tigers openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar. Tamim was lucky in the seventh over as he edged a three-quarter delivery outside off stump against Cummins but all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, one of the finest fielders in the Australian side, put down a sitter. But Tamim could not capitalise on the chance as he was trapped in front in the 10th over for nine off a relatively straight delivery from Lyon.No 3 batsman Imrul Kayes (four) also got lbw trying to sweep Lyon four overs later. Then Soumya and Mominul formed a 49-run partnership for the third wicket before the former was trapped lbw by Lyon during the last over before lunch. Souyma scored 33 facing 81 balls but eventually got out after all the hard work, missing a Lyon arm-ball following minimum foot movement in the 30th over. And so, four left-handers all got out lbw against Lyon as another left-hander, Shakib al Hasan, came in to bat at No 5, ahead of Mushfiq. Mominul was not out on 24 at lunch as much of the spotlight was on him in his return to the playing XI. But his promising innings ended when Lyon trapped him lbw in the last ball of the 34th over. There was a good chance of him scoring a big one but the left-hander missed it while trying to play a defencive shot off the back foot. He was eventually trapped lbw.This is the first time in Test history that the top four batsmen in an innings got out lbw to the same bowler. Shakib scored three boundaries and formed a little partnership with Mushfiq before getting out off the bowling of spinner Ashton Agar. Wicket-keeper Mathew Wade took a sharp catch behind the stumps and Agar took the crucial wicket of Shakib (24) in the 47th over when the scoreboard read 117. Lower-order batsman Sabbir Rahman then arrived to the middle in what was an extremely crucial stage of the innings, forming a brilliant stand with his captain.The run rate was slow at that time as Bangladesh scored around 120 after 47 overs. But since Sabbir’s arrival, the runs came more frequently, thanks to the right-hander’s natural stroke-play. Mushfiq took his time initially to settle down but eventfully played a solid knock for the team once again. Sabbir and Mushfiq stitched together a crucial 105-run sixth wicket partnership for the Tigers, which brought them back into the game. But after tea, when things were going smoothly for the Tigers, Sabbir got out in an unique way. Sabbir was actually stumped while trying to play a pull shot. Just after Australia took the new ball and Cummins came on to bowl the 81st over, captain Steve Smith asked Lyon to take the new ball once again. It was a long hop from Lyon way outside leg-stump and Sabbir went for a pull shot. Sabbir missed it and got imbalanced as Wade affected a sharp stumping to dismiss him. Sabbir scored 66 from 113 balls with six boundaries and one over boundary.In the process, Lyon recorded his 11th five-wicket haul in Test cricket. Alongside Mushfiq, all-rounder Nasir Hossain was not out on 19. With youngster Mehedi Hasan Miraz still to bat, the Tigers will hope to score 100 more runs in order to form a challenging first innings total.

BRIEF SCORE

Bangladesh 253/6 in 90 overs (Sabbir 66, Mushfiq 62*, Lyon 5/77)Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (capt & wk), Nasir Hossain, Mominul Haque, Mehedi Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and Mustafizur RahmanAustralia: David Warner, Matt Renshaw, Steven Smith (capt), Peter Handscomb, Glenn Maxwell, Hilton Cartwright, Matthew Wade (wk), Ashton Agar, Steve O'Keefe, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon

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