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On a barren day for Bangladesh bowlers, the only glimpse of hope to break the partnership between Abid Ali and debutant Abdullah Shafique was created by Taijul Islam, but that went in vain because captain Mominul Haque did not signal for a review of the umpire’s decision.
The Decision Review System or DRS is introduced in cricket to minimize the human errors made by the umpires. In the post-covid situation, when the Test matches are played under one ICC elite panel umpire and one local umpire, each team has three opportunities to go against the on-field umpire’s decision per innings.
Bangladesh’s bowling attack seemed toothless against Pakistan’s openers, who were negotiating Ebadot Hossain and Abu Jayeed Chowdhury very well.
Mominul opted for a spin bowling option in the ninth over and gave the relatively new ball to Taijul Islam so that the left-arm spinner could extract some drift and bounce from the placid track.
Taijul, in his third over, bowled a quicker one as his fifth delivery of the over that Abdullah Shafique tried to play it late by making a room and missed. The ball hit the pad. There was a big appeal from Taijul, but umpire Michel Gaugh stayed unmoved.
Taijul did not receive any vocal support from the wicketkeeper Liton Das, who was unsure as he was standing behind the wicket.
Mominul, standing at cover, joined the others in a group discussion but got confused instead of being convinced, and the captain did not signal for a review within 15 seconds.
But the TV replay showed that the ball hit Shafiq’s pad first, missing the bat completely, and the ball tracker suggested the ball was going to hit the timber.
If Mominul went for a review, it could break the partnership between Abid and Shafiqe, who are yet to be disbanded as Pakistan finished day two on 145 without loss.
In the end, Bangladesh ended the day with all of their three reviews intact.
Liton said at the post-match press conference that he thought the ball hit the bat first.
“The review system is such that it all happens very quickly. Instantly, we all thought that the ball hit the bat first. That is why we did not call for a review. But if we could understand that the ball hit the pad first, then we would opt for DRS instantly,” said the wicketkeeper.
Pakistan batted for 57 overs on day two before the day’s play ended prematurely due to bad light with six overs left. And throughout these two sessions spanned for almost four hours, Bangladesh bowlers could hardly put any pressure on both the batsmen, who were playing with utmost ease on a surface that looks very easy to bat on.
Though Liton defended his teammates and said, “How could you say this is poor bowling? All the bowlers who are bowling are Test specialists. Ebadot, Rahi (Abu Jayed)- are Test bowlers and have done well in the past and have picked so many wickets. Taijul and Miraz are proven bowlers. There is nothing poor about it,” he told the media on Saturday.
After day two, Pakistan is trailing by 185 runs, but they have all the wickets intact, and the wicket is also looking very good to bat on as the ball is coming to the bat nicely, and the cracks are yet to be open.
Liton thinks that the game still hinges on a balance.
“ It’s too early to think about the results. If I and Mushfiq Bhai (Mushfiqur Rahim) could bat better, manage to score 400-500 runs (team total), then the scenario would be different. Or if we could pick two or three wickets today (Saturday), then the scenario could be changed. It’s not easy to score runs quickly here. The game is on for both the sides,” said Liton, who scored his maiden Test hundred on Friday but added only one run with the overnight score on day two and got out early morning.
