The opening pair for Bangladesh did not score too many runs in Tests in the recent past. Bangladesh tried different opening combinations in the past few matches as Tamim Iqbal missed games due to injury.
Liton Das and Imrul Kayes opened the innings for Bangladesh in the Zimbabwe series and failed to score big. In this series, Bangladesh opted to field Soumya Sarkar and even included Shadman Islam in the squad in the last moment.
The experienced Imrul got the chance to score significant runs. Imrul and Mominul Haque even built a 104-run partnership for the second wicket where Imrul scored 44 off 87 balls.
But despite scoring 44, his innings was not fully impressive as he was lucky on numerous occasions. One catch was dropped at second slip and he got a reprieve even after being caught in the deep as Jomel Warrican over-stepped.
However, the left-hander miserably failed to capitalise as he lost his wicket in a soft manner on the stroke of lunch. With so many chances, the experienced campaigner, who is in good form in the ODI format, was expected to make his innings big.
1ST TEST, DAY 1
BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS R B
Imrul c Ambris b Warrican 44 87
Soumya c Dowrich b Roach 0 2
Mominul c Dowrich b Gabriel 120 167
Mithun c Dowrich b Bishoo 20 50
Shakib b Gabriel 34 68
Mushfiq lbw b Gabriel 4 3
Mahmudullah b Gabriel 3 7
Miraz b Warrican 22 31
Nayeem Not out 24 60
Taijul not out 32 57
Extras (b 3, lb 5, nb 4) 12
Total (88 Overs) 315/8
Fall Of Wickets
1-1 (Soumya), 2-105 (Imrul), 3-153 (Mithun), 4-222 (Mominul), 5-226 (Mushfiq), 6-230 (Mahmudullah), 7-235 (Shakib), 8-259 (Miraz)
Bowling
Roach 15-2-55-1, Gabriel 18-2-69-4, Chase 11-0-42-0, Warrican 21-6-62-2, Bishoo 15-0-60-1, Brathwaite 8-1-19-0
