Bangladesh ended Day 1 of the first Test against Pakistan on top after a wobbly start at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram. They were left reeling on 49/4 at one stage before Liton Das (113*) and Mushfiqur Rahim (82*) stitched an unbeaten 204-run stand for the fifth wicket to close on 253/4.
In their first match of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023 cycle, Bangladesh got off to a torrid start at home after opting to bat. Their top four – Shadman Islam (14), Saif Hassan (14), Najmul Hossain Shanto (14) and Mominul Haque – fell inside the opening 90 minutes of play.
It began with Shaheen Shah Afridi (1-50) outfoxing Saif in the fifth over. Three overs later, Hasan Ali (1-38) trapped Shadman leg before, reducing Bangladesh to 33/2. Mominul and Shanto then fell in successive overs, to Sajid Khan (1-68) and Faheem Ashraf (1-38) respectively.
But Mushfiqur and Liton then batted the final 11 overs of the first session, taking Bangladesh to 69/4. They began to frustrate the Pakistan bowlers after the break, and kept the scoreboard ticking. They aggregated 102 in the second session, as Bangladesh reached 171/4 at tea.
Liton, dropped on 67 by Sajid, then notched his maiden Test hundred, in his 43rd innings. Mushfiqur played a sedate role. They were not bothered much by the second new ball in the final five overs of the day before bad light forced early stumps.
Brief Scores: Bangladesh 253/4 (Liton Das 113*; Hasan Ali 1-38) vs Pakistan.