Honours were evenly shared as Bangladesh made a spirited reply scoring 221 for 5 against England ‘s 293 all out at stumps on the second day of the first Test of Rocket- two-match Test series at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong on Friday, reports Reuters.
Wickets still helping the bowlers, it looked English spinners too will make life miserable for Tigers batsmen, but despite Imrul Kayes departed early for a fine 21 runs and Moninul Haque for Duck, it looked Moeen Ali will help England to bowl out Bangladesh cheaply. But Tamim Iqbal with an excellent 78, Mahmudullah Riyad with a defiant 38, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim too played his part with a priceless 48. Shakib Al Hasan hung on with edgy 31 and night watchman Shafiul on out leave Bangladesh a chance of taking first innings lead as they are only 72 behinds England’s first inning.
Earlier, Moeen Ali brought early success for England picking up two wickets before the lunch break.
Opener Imrul Kayes was the first batsman to go for 21 runs being clean bowled while one down Mominul Haque immediately followed the footprint of Kayes without disturbing the scoreboard.
The third wicket partnership of 90 runs in 29.3 overs between Tamim and Mahmudullah however helped the duo to fight against the strong English bowling line up, but when it looked like Bangladesh had won the session, Adil Rashid came back and sent back to Mahmudullah for 38 against the run of play just before the tea break. The batsman got an edge to a sharp leg-break, and Joe Root at slip took a fine catch inches off the ground.
The southpaw opener Tamim again paired another important 44 runs partnership with skipper Mushfiqur Rahim in 11.2 overs that allowed the runs to flow again after a quiet period in the middle. But Gareth Batty again struck on Bangladesh innings removing set batsman Tamim. The local lad scored a gritty 78 runs off 179 balls with the help of seven boundaries before he was caught by wicket keeper Bairstow, leaving Bangladesh in trouble.
The visitors got a massive boost when Ben Stokes send back Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim for 48 with less than three overs to remain on the second day’s play.
Moeen Ali captured two wickets conceding 66 runs while Ben Stokes, Adil Rashid and Gareth Batty took one wicket each conceding 17, 51 and 51 runs respectively.
Earlier, England resumed their first innings on the second day with overnight score of 258 for 7 and finally all out for 293.
Mehedi Hasan Miraz, who captured five wickets on the first day, today took one more wicket to finish six for 80 runs. He was well supported by Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam who both claimed two wickets giving away 46 and 47 runs respectively.
