PAK vs BAN 2024, PAK vs BAN 2nd Test Match Report, August 30 – September 03, 2024

Pakistan 100 for 1 (Masood 53*, Saim 43*, Taskin 1-21) vs. Bangladesh

Apart from looking at early wickets in the second session, Bangladesh will have one eye on the over rate, too. In the first innings, they bowled only 25 overs in two hours and 15 minutes.

After the rain washed away on the first day, a warm and sunny morning greeted the teams on Saturday. Given the humidity on the pitch, Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto did not hesitate to bowl first in what has become a four-day Test.

Taskin Ahmed, who has returned from a shoulder injury, made good use of the conditions. After bowling five outs to Shafique, he got the last ball of the over to cut the seam. Shafique was not serious about it. He came to defend but left a big gap between the bat and the pad, and was thrown there.

Time, Taskin and Hasan Mahmud silenced Ayub by swinging hard around the wicket. Ayub was on 4 off 25 balls at one point but hit three fours in the next 11 balls he faced. Masood was positive from the start, meaning fifty pitches between them took just 68 balls.

It’s not that the Bangladeshi seamers didn’t make mistakes but none of them died. Nahid Rana hit Masood on the thumb with a short ball. When he tried a similar trick to Ayub, the opener pulled him over the deep-square-leg batsman for six balls.

As the day progressed, the field thinned out. Ten minutes before lunch, Masood brought up his fifty, in just 54 balls. Most of his runs came from running between the wickets – he hit just two fours in his first 50 runs.

In the toss, Masood said Pakistan had “rested” Naseem Shah in the Test. With Shaheen Shah Afridi also left out, Pakistan’s four spinners have a combined 16 Test caps, with legspinner Abrar (six) being the most experienced.