Plays of the day: Taijul rips through Smith defence and Warner's dropped chances

Taijul rips through Smith defenceAustralia batted confidently despite losing opener Matt Ranshew early. Two of their best batsmen – vice captain David Warner and captain Steve Smith – were batting with composure and scoring runs quite easily. These two formed a 93-run partnership for the second wicket. There was not that much turn on the pitch and both Warner and Smith played the spinners with aplomb. In the process Smith picked up his 21st Test fifty and was looking towards a big hundred. Bangladesh brought Taijul Islam to the attack in the 29th over for the first time in the innings and he took the all important wicket of Smith straightaway. It was an arm ball from Taijul. Smith tried a forward defensive shot but there was a big gap between his pad and bat and the ball sneaked through to hit the middle stump. That was a big wicket for the Tigers.Warner’s dropped chancesWarner continued his brilliant run of form in the Chittagong Test match after his heroics in the Dhaka Test last week. He was the anchor of Australia’s batting as the visiting side finished the second day with a strong reply of 225 for two. Warner was unbeaten on 88 but he did give two chances in his innings, which were both missed, proving to be costly for Bangladesh. The first chance came in the last ball of the 39th over when Taijul was bowling. It was tossed up, on a length and outside off, spun and bounced sharply towards Warner. He tried to defend only to manage an edge. But eventually Mominul Haque missed it at short leg. Warner was batting on 52 then. The second chance came in the 57th over off Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s bowling. Warner danced down the track and missed it as the ball kept low. Wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim failed to grab the ball and Warner survived again. The left-hander is on the verge of a hundred and these two costly errors may pave the way for the Tigers to be regretful.