Bangladesh reduced to 26/6 as Khurram, Hamza breathe fire

Pakistan pacers Khurram Shehzad and Mir Hamza started the third day’s play of the second Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Sunday (September 1) with a blazing spell of fast bowling. Between them, the two picked up six wickets, with the visitors posting only 26 runs on the board. 

The day started with Zakir Hasan, the left-hander, looking to play a square drive on a length ball and hitting it straight to the man at short mid-wicket, Abrar Ahmed. This opened the floodgates as within a span of 34 balls and 12 runs, the Tigers were lying flat on the ground with all their main batters back in the hut.

Shadman Islam followed his partner Zakir as he was cleaned up around the legs by Khurram with the team score at 19. Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto continued to struggle on this tour as after opening his account with a four, he was clean bowled by Khurram, who picked his third wicket of the game. It was a full delivery, almost yorker length, which Shanto missed. 

Among the next three wickets to fall were the stalwarts of Bangladesh Test cricket. With more than 13000 runs between them, Mominul Haque, Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim could manage to add only six together in this innings. Mominul’s was a soft dismissal as the ball arrived a little late and he had already played the defensive on-drive. The ball went straight to Mohammad Ali at short mid-on, who made no mistake. 

Hamza continued to be among the wickets, this time with a brilliant short-of-length delivery that forced Rahim to feel for it. The nick carried to Mohammad Rizwan behind the stumps. Shakib, the last wicket to fall before a strong partnership between Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, was found plumb in front of the wicket on a ball that came in with the angle. 

Shahzad bowled that from around the wicket and Shakib thought that it would go on to miss the leg stump, but the umpire gave him out and even the review could not save him. 

With the first six wickets falling for just 26 runs, it was the joint-lowest score for the first six wickets by Bangladesh in Tests. The previous occasion in which they had lost six wickets for 26 runs was against South Africa in 2022.

This, however, was the best bowling by Pakistan in the first 12 overs of an innings in a Test. Their previous best was also against Bangladesh when they had taken four wickets in the first 12 overs in 2021. 

Litton and Mehidy joined hands in the middle after the fall of the sixth wicket and got the team through to lunch without any more casualties. They braved the conditions, played their shots to disturb the lengths of the Pakistani bowlers and added an unbeaten 49 for the seventh wicket. Bangladesh still trail by 199 runs. In the series though, they lead 1-0, having won the first Test here in Rawalpindi by 10 wickets. 

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