Sports Correspondent
Published:01 Sep 2024, 07:25 PM
At the end of the day, Bangladesh kept Pakistan under pressure by taking 2 wickets
The cricket lovers of this country breathed a sigh of relief when Liton Das' impeccable century and Mehdi Hasan Miraj's 165-run partnership with Bangladesh stopped at 262 runs. And at the end of the day, they are waiting to float in happy memories with 2 wickets of the host Pakistan.
Where Pakistan started preparing to make Bangladesh follow-on, they got a lead of only 12 runs. With this lead, Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud picked up the wickets of two Pakistan batters in the late afternoon of the third day of the Rawalpindi Test.
Abdullah Shafiq was dismissed for zero runs in the first innings. He managed to score 3 runs in the second innings. But Shafiq put the ball on the edge of the bat from Hasan Mahmud and deposited it in the gloves of Liton Das behind the wicket. As a result, he got out for 3 runs. Hasan Mahmud brought the break through.
The first wicket for the team was 7 runs. Coming to bowl in the next over, Hasan Mahmud took the wicket again. This time he dismissed Khurram Shehzad who entered the field as a night watch man. Shehzad was bowled directly. Pakistan's run at this time was 9. After that, the day's play was over.
Earlier, Bangladesh did not take the lead for a short while. The incredible batting by Liton and Mirage also gave them a chance to take the lead; But Bangladesh got all out while remaining 12 runs away from Pakistan's 278. Liton Das was dismissed for 138 runs. Bangladesh's innings ended when the last batsman Nahid Rana got lbw to Agha Salman.
However, everyone was worried whether Bangladesh would fall in the follow-on or not. After losing 6 wickets for 26 runs, who thought that Bangladesh will cross 200 runs? Everyone assumed that maybe the Tigers were going to fall in the follow-on; But Liton Das resisted Mehedi Hasan Miraj.
Mirage was dismissed for 78 runs after the pair made 165 runs but Liton Das survived. Not only that, he also made his innings cross the three-digit mark. He scored the fourth Test century of his career by hitting Abrar Ahmed for a boundary.
Lytton scored a century at a crucial time, when the team desperately needed an innings. After bowling out Pakistan for 278 runs, everyone expected a big score from the batsmen of Bangladesh. But as the batsmen gave away wickets one after another, everyone was worried.
From there Mehdi Hasan Miraj and Liton Das formed a pair, the Pakistanis had to be surprised. They did not expect so much resistance at all. After making the last century on May 23, 2022, Liton saw a century again in the 10th match after a break of 9 matches.
There were concerns about how long Lytton would last after the team broke the pair with Mirage out for 191 runs. In the end, removing all fears, he touched the milestone of century with pacer Hasan Mahmud.