Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim lifted Bangladesh when they were struggling on 49/4 in 16.2 overs. The duo batted out the whole day to put a 204 runs stand which became the highest fifth-wicket stand at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim steadied the ship of Bangladesh when they were struggling on 49/4 in 16.2 overs on day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan.
The duo batted out the whole day to put a 204 runs stand which became the highest fifth-wicket stand at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
Bangladesh batting consultant Ashwell Prince on Friday said that he is happy to see the boys getting enough momentum after being pushed against the wall in the opening session of day 1.
Bangladesh ended their day on 253 for 4 on the back of some brilliant knocks from Liton Kumar Das, who remained unbeaten on 113 and Mushfiqur Rahim’s unbeaten 82 when the umpires decided to call off the day following bad light.
“I think the guys showed a great deal of character and skills after we were 40-odd for four today,”
said Prince.
“Mushfiqur was very patient at the start. He is an experienced player. A lot of younger players might have panicked with the low strike-rate, and not being able to get the ball away. But he is an experienced Test player. He stayed calm. He knew runs can come in faster periods in Tests. He played great innings.
“Liton and Mushfiqur continued the plan of hitting straight down the ground. It is important in red-ball cricket. You want to play as straight as possible when the ball is at the stumps. We saw great composure and skills in this performance,”
he said.
“I am proud of the character that they showed with their backs to the wall. Sometimes, as a coach, you look at the technical attributes of the players. But I was pleased with the mental application. 50 for 4 is a tough time to come to the crease in a Test match. When you find yourself in a tough situation, you have to be mentally strong. You have to believe you can bat your team out of that position and into a better position,”
he said.
Ashwell Prince added the fact that the wicket was more for batting and the duo added as many runs as they could to give Bangladesh a superb chance in the Test.
“We know the areas we want to score in. There’s definitely a plan, but we don’t have a number in mind. We want to get as many as possible. The pitch is good for batting. Is 400 enough, or 500 enough? No one knows. We just have to keep batting until the captain feels we have enough to declare,”
he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistani pacer Hassan Ali advises his fellow pacers to not try too much on this wicket but get their focus at the right areas to get wickets.
The hosts made a brilliant comeback as the innings progressed but Hassan Ali believes that the wicket became easier as the day progressed.
“I think they are in a good position and finished the day on 250. If we can stop them at 350 that would be great and way pitch is behaving our batsmen are very capable and they are in good form and we are confident to put up a big score,”
he said.
“The wicket is slow and we have to bowl in the right areas so that the batsmen make mistakes and we have more chance to pick wickets,”
Hasan said after the game.
“We planned to take wickets upfront and we were successful initially. We should appreciate the way both played and took the game away from us. I think they played brilliant innings’ and after the opening session the ball came onto the bat nicely and we could not pick wickets but this is how Test cricket goes on. We will try to strike back tomorrow morning,”
he added.
