Senior batter Mushfiqur Rahim hit a brilliant 191 on the fourth day of the first Test in Rawalpindi Saturday, giving Bangladesh an outside chance of a maiden victory over Pakistan.
The diminutive batter was the foundation of Bangladesh's first innings score of 565 - their highest Test total against Pakistan - and gave the visitors a first innings lead of 117.
Pakistan were 23/1 at the close of play, with Abdullah Shafique on 12 and skipper Shan Masood on nine.
The home team trail by 94 runs after making 448/6 declared in the first innings.
Bangladesh, who have lost 12 of the 13 Tests against Pakistan, will hope their spinners can extract some turn from a Rawalpindi pitch that has been unresponsive so far.
Pakistan once again started badly when opener Saim Ayub edged a good-length ball from Shoriful Islam to wicket-keeper Liton Das after scoring just a single in the third over of their second innings.
However, the day belonged to Mushfiq, who added 114 with Liton (56) for the sixth wicket and then a record 194 for the seventh wicket with Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who made a solid 77.
Bangladesh's previous Test best against Pakistan was the 555/6 they made at Khulna in 2015.
Miraz praised Mushfiq's knock.
"Mushfiq played a great knock," said Miraz, hoping Bangladesh can win.
"Definitely the first hour will be important and if we get early wickets we have a good chance."
Mushfiq's knock of eight hours and 42 minutes, which contained 22 boundaries and a six, finally ended when he edged pacer Mohammad Ali to wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan.
He overtook the previous highest individual score by a Bangladesh batter in Pakistan of 119 by Javed Omar, scored in Peshawar in 2003.
Mushfiq was lucky to get a life on 150 when Babar Azam dropped him off Salman Agha at leg slip.
Pakistan also thought they had Mushfiq leg-before by Ali on 59 but umpire Richard Kettleborough's original verdict was overturned on review when the replay showed the ball missing leg stump.
Mushfiq then hit two boundaries off both Shahzad and Ayub before reaching his century, his 11th in 89 Tests.
The partnership with Miraz was the highest for any team against Pakistan, beating the previous record of 186 set by New Zealand's Warren Lees and Richard Hadlee in Karachi in 1976.
Miraz added another 37 runs to the total before Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed him and then Hasan Mahmud for a duck to finish with 2/88.
Naseem Shah ended the Bangladesh innings by dismissing Shoriful for 22, finishing with Pakistan's best figure of 3/93.
Shah admitted pitch did not help pacers as per expectations.
"We did not get as much help from the pitch as we expected," said Shah.
"We have been getting such wickets so we have to think how can we get the home advantage."
The second and final Test will also be played in Rawalpindi, from next Friday.
1ST TEST, DAY 4
Pakistan 448/6d & 23/1 in 10 overs (Shafique 12*, Masood 9*) trail Bangladesh 565 in 167.3 overs (Mushfiq 191, Shadman 93) by 94 runs
