Tigers suffer defeat despite dramatic day five

Nothing could stop Bangladesh from losing the Dhaka Test.

Neither the tropical cyclone Jawad nor a valiant effort from Shakib Al Hasan could not save Bangladesh from another humiliation.

The second and final Test of the two-match series between Bangladesh and Pakistan was constantly marred by bad weather, heavy rain, and wet outfield, which stopped the play multiple times across the first four days.

33 overs were lost on day one, only 38 balls were bowled on day two and the entire day three was washed out. Day four lasted a little longer than 60 overs, but that was when Pakistan landed their most lethal punch, and after battling for the next four sessions, Bangladesh finally succumbed to defeat by an innings and eight runs on Wednesday.

Pakistan played 98.3 overs in their first innings, which ended on day four afternoon when Babar Azam declared their innings at 300-4. Which meant Bangladesh would only have to score 101 runs to save the follow-on and foil their chances to bowl the Tigers out twice.

But the maximum damage was done by Sajid Khan on Tuesday afternoon when Bangladesh lost seven wickets for only 76 runs and on Wednesday morning, they lost the remaining three adding only 11 runs and were bowled out for 87.

Babar did not hesitate to enforce the follow on, and once again, Bangladesh’s top-order crashed like a house of cards.

4-49, 4-25, 4-31, and 4-25- these are the numbers depicting the fall of the top-order in this series, where despite a change in personnel, the result remained the same.

Mahmudul Hasan went for a duck in his first international outing but managed to hit a boundary in the second innings before getting dismissed by Hasan Ali to open the floodgates.

Shadman Islam, who looked uncomfortable against Pakistan’s bowling throughout the series, followed him as he was trapped LBW by Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Mominul Haque was living in his nightmares throughout the series, and his pathetic batting efforts were ended by Hasan. And soon, it seemed like a repeat telecast of the first innings as Bangladesh were struggling at 25-4.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das put on some resistance as they added 73 runs and survived 150 crucial balls, but their partnership ended when Liton hit the ball straight to Sajid khan just five runs shy from his half-century.

That brought Shakib Al Hasan to the middle, and he took control of the game along with his BKSP senior Mushfiq. They almost played out the session, but on the brink of the break, Mushfiq did hara-kiri.

It was the last over before the break, and Shakib was facing Nauman Ali. He called for a single, and Mushfiq made a split-second delay to hit base before Rizwan dislodged the stumps. Mushfiq got out for 48, and Bangladesh felt threatened.

After the Tea break, Shakib and Mehidy Hasan Miraz were killing time in the middle as they just needed to survive till twilight.

As the daylight was fading, pacers refrained from bowling, and only spinners were operating. When everyone thought Shakib might save the day, Sajid delivered his knockout punch.

A quicker, flatter delivery went straight after pitching, and Shakib missed the line narrowly. The ball went past his bat and hit the timber.

Khaled Ahmed did not last long, which he was not supposed to. Taijul Islam tried to hang on and almost gave some hope reminding the Kanpur Test, where Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra denied India the last wicket.

But the cricket God might not be very pleased with a bunch of misfits. Sajid’s delivery hit Taijul on his pad, and the umpire raised his finger. Taijul went for a review, but all the parameters were red, and Pakistan celebrated the win after a moment of confusion.

There was late drama, some resistance, and personal heroics on day five, a bright and sunny day after four days of dark and gloomy weather, but the sunshine could not lift the mood as Bangladesh suffered from yet another innings defeat.