Plays of the day: Dead straight Lyon, Mominul's return and Sabbir's counter-attack

Dead straight LyonAustralia captain Steve Smith made an unique move when he gave spinner Nathan Lyon the new ball in just the second over of the day after fast bowler Pat Cummins bowled the first one. According to statistics, this is the first time Australia have opened the bowling with a spinner since leg-break bowler Bill O'Reilly in 1938. And the off-spinner duly fulfilled his duty with accurate line and length and took four important wickets of the Tigers top-order. Interestingly, all the wickets – opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, No 3 batter Imrul Kayes, opener Soumya Sarker and middle-order batsman Mominul Hauqe – came from LBWs against the experienced off-spinner. Lyon's haul of wickets is the first time in Test history that the top four batsmen in an innings got out lbw to the same bowler. Later, Lyon also picked up the important wicket of lower-order batsman Sabbir Rahman in the 82nd over when his partnership alongside captain Mushfiqur Rahim was going strong.

Mominul Haque returns to the Bangladesh side as they win the toss and bat in Chittagong.

LIVE: https://t.co/4ORBR3EYZm #BANvAUS pic.twitter.com/CReaCqTGyp— ICC (@ICC) September 4, 2017

Mominul's returnAfter Mominul’s initial exclusion from the Test squad, there were much criticisms regarding the decision, which eventually paved the way for the left-hander to return to the side. Bangladesh dropped one pacer in the second Test – right-armer Shafiul Islam - and added an extra batsman to the batting order in order to bolster the depth. So all eyes were on Mominul as his recent form not quite reflected his blistering start to his international career. Not so long ago, he was even compared with the legendary Sir Don Bradman in terms of batting average in Test. However, Mominul made all the hard work and played nicely until he tried to defend Lyon off his back-foot in the last ball of the 34th over. He was dismissed for 31 runs. As the previous three batsmen all got out lbw, Mominul should have played that defensive shot with care as Lyon was often skidding the ball. Anyways, it was a short yet good innings from Mominul. But after getting set and being dismissed in that way was costly in context of the game. It was a good chance for Mominul to convert his good start into a big one but he missed it.

#BANvAUS Sabbir Rahman, Mushfiqur Rahim lead Bangladesh fightbackhttps://t.co/4pFPLqbzdX— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) September 4, 2017

Sabbir counter-attackBangladesh were under pressure as they lost wickets at regular intervals and could not build a good partnership, despite small starts from the top-order batsmen. Bangladesh lost the crucial wicket of all-rounder Shakib al Hasan in the 47th over over when only 117 were on the board. The Tigers were facing a tough time out there as Australia bowled tight line and length. But from there, Sabbir took charge and played his natural game. Sabbir did not miss out on any scoring opportunities and played shots all around the wicket. He formed an important 105-run partnership with Mushfiq with a relatively quick scoring rate. Sabbir’s 66 off 113 deliveries was composed with half a dozen boundaries and one sixer. The right-hander though lost his wicket at the end of the day by losing his balance and getting stumped in the 82nd over.