At the close of the second day’s play, the Bangladesh bowlers kept the hosts in the hunt to win the lone Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, despite losing their final five wickets for only 20 runs.
In a welcome change, the pacers were put to good use on the seam-friendly Mirpur surface, with Ebadot Hossain taking four wickets as the tourists were bowled out for 146 runs after the lunch break. Shoriful Islam, another pacer, took two wickets and made an impression.
Ebadot, despite not achieving his second five-wicket haul, was content to carry out the game plan under the given circumstances.
We were really lucky to be able to field three seamers in these circumstances, and I believe this is the first occasion we’ve ever been given a pitch like this. It feels great to be able to execute our game plan,” Ebadot said. “We did our best to bundle out the opponent inexpensively.
The recent success of Bangladesh’s fast bowling unit has done a lot to inspire confidence among the team’s leadership in the longer version of the game.
The native of Sylhet said, “Our pace unit has improved a lot in the past three years or so,” when asked whether they were delivering the message that the pace unit might have an effect under favorable circumstances. I won’t claim we’ve become better, but we have spent the last three years working to raise the bar on this graph. We’re attempting to capitalize on the fast-bowling renaissance that cricket’s global audience is experiencing right now, he added.
With half-centurions Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir Hossain at the crease and the gap expanding to 370 runs, Afghanistan will have a hard job on their hands to preserve the Test match after the hosts did not enforce the follow-on despite their 236-run lead.
While acknowledging that saving the Test would be difficult, visiting team head coach Jonathan Trott insisted that his team should play with dignity whatsoever.
A difficult time is ahead. Given the current state of the pitch, success seems unlikely. So, you know, keep fighting and putting up a good show, while also showing some pride and fortitude.
We’ll need a terrific bowling performance in the morning and a monumental batting effort. However, it’s not impossible. While “crazy” things have happened in cricket previously, Trott warned that his team will have to “play out of their socks” to win.