Pakistan has secured a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Bangladesh at Chattogram on the back of star performance from Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique.
Pakistan was in a good position to take a lead in the test match series against Bangladesh.
The openers were playing sensibly to make a 100 runs partnership at the end of the fourth day. Men in green were just 93 runs behind to win the first Test match. Both pairs had scored their half-half centuries.
Previously, left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi took the five wickets by giving away only 32 runs while Liton Das scored a half-century to help Bangladesh to set a decent score on the board.
Continuing the day on 39-4, Mushfiqur Rahim lost his wicket in the very first over of the day.
Das and Yasir Ali had set a good partnership but Shaheen’s bouncer hits on the helmet of Yasir then he didn’t continue his innings further and retired hurt after making 36.
Meanwhile, off-spinner Sajid Khan cut off Mehidy Hassan’s leg before for 11. Yasir’s knock substitute Nurul Hassan didn’t survive enough and was caught behind appeal just before lunch.
Shaheen catch Liton’s leg before and then had Abu Javed out for a duck to do his fourth five-wicket Test haul, before off-spinner Sajid Khan, who finished with 3-33, wrapped things up by dispatching Taijul Islam.
Pakistani openers both provide a huge start to the team and reached 38 at Tea. They put a good score on the board and ended on 109-0.
Abid reached his second fifty in the matches and his Test batting average has moved up to 50. He has the highest average of any Pakistani batter to have hit 1000 Test runs.
Abdullah also played some watchful innings and hit his second fifty in the match.
While chasing the target of 202, the visitors comfortably reached the milestone in the morning session of day five. The opening pair of Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique starred for Pakistan in the chase.
However, the opening pair was dismissed one after the other but they had already done the damage.
Skipper Babar Azam and Azhar Ali guided Pakistan to victory in the 59th over. Azhar and Babar remained undefeated on 24 and 13 respectively.
Babar Azam, Pakistan skipper:
“The way Bangladesh played in the first innings that was really good but Shaheen and Hasan were outstanding. That’s the beauty of Test cricket that it allows you to make a comeback. We didn’t have much time to prepare for the Test but we gave our best. I am really pleased with the way Abdullah Shafique built his innings. Abid Ali was outstanding, scoring tough runs to pull the team out from the difficult position.”
Abid Ali, Player of the Match:
“Abdullah Shafique was making his debut, so we tried to stay on the crease, waited for bad balls, and succeeded in putting those away. I had done well in domestic cricket and carried that positive mindset here too. Abdullah played really well, I gave him more credit. He was outstanding and my best wishes are with him. I am a bit disappointed that I got out for 91 in the second innings but at the same time I am happy that we won the match.”
Mominul Haque, Bangladesh skipper:
“I think we lost in the first one hour on both our innings. In the first innings, Mushfiqur and Liton stepped up. If we had got 100 more runs, it would have been different. We have to improve against the new ball.”
Pakistan 286 and 203 for 2 (Abid 91, Shafique 73) beat Bangladesh 330 and 157 (Liton 59, Yasir 36, Afridi 5-32) by 8 wickets.