Sports Reporter //

The visiting Bangladesh team faced a challenge after declaring Pakistan’s first innings 448 for 6 in the Rawalpindi Test. But the Bangladeshi batsmen faced that challenge well. Mushfiqur Rahim- Mehdi Hasan Miraj made a pair of record 196 runs. Therefore, the Tigers made a huge collection of 565 runs in the first innings on the fourth day of the match on Saturday. Bangladesh leads by 117 runs. At the end of the day, Pakistan is still trailing by 94 runs with 23 runs for 1 wicket. The Tigers are hoping to win the fifth and final day of the match by trusting the bowlers.

This is only the fourth time that Bangladesh has taken the lead by batting after the opposition scored more than 400 runs in the first innings of the Test. In 2012, West Indies scored 527 runs in Mirpur by 29 runs (Bangladesh 556), in 2013 Sri Lanka scored 570 runs in Galle by 68 runs (Bangladesh 638), Chittagong in 2013 after New Zealand scored 469 runs by 32 runs (Bangladesh 501). After batting, however, the Bangladesh team managed to score more than 500 runs only for the fifth time.

At the end of the third day, Bangladesh scored 316 runs for 5 wickets. Mushfiqur was batting on 55 and Liton Kumar Das on 52. Lytton departed for just 56 runs on the fourth day. But Mushfiq-Miraj did not give a chance after that. Bangladesh added 73 runs for 1 wicket till lunch break. Mushfiqur got the 11th century of his career.

Muminul Haque has the most 12 Test centuries for Bangladesh. Tamim Iqbal was in the second position with 10 centuries. Now Mushfiq has come up to remove him. He also now holds the record for most 5 centuries outside the country. In this case too, Mushfiq has pushed Tamim back. Tamim’s century is 4 outside the country.

Bangladesh did not lose any more wickets till the tea break in the next session. There were 31 overs in this session and Bangladesh added 106 runs. By then, Bangladesh has got the lead. That lead continued to increase after the tea break due to the rhythmic batting of Mushfiq-Miraj.

Mushfiqur was on his way to a double century. After crossing 150, he survived with two catches. But in the end, Muhammad Ali’s pace of 191 runs off 341 balls with 22 fours and 1 six was cut behind. He missed his fourth career double century.

As a result, Mushfiqur-Miraj’s seventh wicket stand of 196 runs was broken. Earlier, the best Test stand for the seventh wicket for the country was 145 runs. Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad formed that pair against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2010. This is the highest run partnership for the seventh wicket against Pakistan. They broke the previous record of 48 years ago. In Karachi in 1976, Sir Richard Hadley and Warren Lees made a partnership of 186 runs for the seventh wicket for New Zealand.

However, Miraj’s 179-ball 77 with 6 fours and Shariful Islam’s 22-run innings with 2 fours and 2 sixes from 14 balls gave Bangladesh a record collection. As a result, Bangladesh took a lead of 117 runs by scoring 565 runs.

Bangladesh scored 361 runs in Peshawar Test in 2003. That was the best of Bangladesh team till now on Pakistan soil. Now the Tigers have surpassed that and got their highest total against Pakistan in Test history. 555 for 6 in Khulna in 2015 was Bangladesh’s best collection against them so far. Now everything is behind.

This is Bangladesh’s third highest total in Tests. In 2013, Bangladesh scored 638 runs in the Galle Test against Sri Lanka. That is the Tigers’ highest team run in Tests so far. Besides, in Wellington in 2017, batting first, he scored 595 runs for 8 wickets and announced the innings.

At the end of the fourth day of the Pindi Test, Pakistan scored 23 runs for 1 wicket in the second innings. They are behind by 94 runs. That is why Bangladesh is dreaming of winning on the fifth day today. Because if you can stop the pucks with a low lead, that possibility is quite good. So Pakistan is under pressure. But it is very certain that Bangladesh is not losing in this test.