Bangladesh repeatedly threatened to take control against England only to lose wickets near the end of every session to allow them back into the Test
Mohammad Isam21-Oct-2016Even someone as communicative as Tamim Iqbal couldn’t explain how and why Bangladesh lost wickets just before each scheduled break in play. He said that had Mahmudullah or Mushfiqur Rahim made it to tea or end of play, the home side would have been in a better position against England on the second day.Mushfiqur was batting on 48 when his thin edge carried to wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow, who somehow managed to hold on to the catch in the dimming light. The last 15 balls of the day could have been more costly for Bangladesh but Shakib Al Hasan and nightwatchman Shafiul Islam very cautiously batted them out without adding a single run.Just four balls before the tea break, Mahmudullah fell to a low catch at slip while Imrul Kayes and Mominul Haque got out in the over leading up to the lunch break. Suffice to say, Bangladesh could have gone into each break with their noses in front.Tamim said that Bangladesh could still build with five wickets in hand on the third day, but their first hurdle would be to cross England’s first innings score of 293 runs.”We lost wickets before lunch, tea and end of play,” Tamim said. “I don’t know how to explain it. We would have been in a better position had we not lost those wickets. If Riyad bhai was unbeaten at the end of the second session, we would have been in a good position. Mushfiqur being out there at the end of the day would have also helped us.”I think we are slightly at an advantaged position at the end of the second day. We still have five wickets in hand. We will gain the upper hand if we can bat well in the first session. The wicket is not easy to play. If Mushfiqur didn’t get out, I would have said that we had a good day. We should be happy with what we get as lead. First we have to cross their total.”Getting dismissed when nearing a session break, after a big appeal or even an unscheduled break in play, is an old problem for Bangladeshi batsmen in Tests. One would have hoped that a better understanding would eradicate this inability to finish a session well, but long breaks in Test cricket give them little opportunity to work on these subtle issues. These untimely dismissals makes it more frustrating when one considers the position that Imrul, Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur, on this day, managed to attain.The rejuvenated Imrul, who has made two centuries in the past three weeks, was looking calm though he wasn’t timing every delivery. With five minutes left for the lunch break, Alastair Cook introduced Moeen Ali to bowl the final over of the session. The offspinner fizzed the first ball past Imrul’s outside edge before kissing his off-stump off the next delivery.Mominul became a second victim in the same over, prompting the umpires to call for lunch with a ball remaining in the 14th over. The wickets put Bangladesh in trouble, leaving them on 29 for 2.Tamim and Mahmudullah rebuilt diligently as they moved towards a big partnership. Mahmudullah hardly put a foot wrong, only hitting three boundaries. Two of those were behind point while the other was depositing a bad ball through midwicket. There was some struggle during his 66-ball 38 but he wasn’t besieged to the point of edging a normal legbreak outside off-stump: he had defended Adil Rashid’s previous ball, a similar legbreak turning away from offstump.Tamim Iqbal in assertive mood•Philip Brown/Getty ImagesMushfiqur’s dismissal ultimately hurt Bangladesh’s progress the most. He had added 44 runs for the fourth wicket with Tamim and during his 58-run fifth-wicket stand with Shakib, it looked as if Bangladesh would end the day with four wickets down. Shakib had closed up shop as he dealt with England’s reverse swing while Mushfiqur moved from 42 to 48 in 23 balls. The whole point in the final hour of play was to slow things down and bat till stumps, but one error brought Bangladesh down by a few steps.Tamim said that the pitch was difficult to survive on, even if a batsman was well settled. “A batsman is never set on this wicket, even if he is batting on 70, 80 or 100. You will be in trouble if you think you are set. Something keeps happening every over. It is a difficult wicket.”The most important thing in this wicket is to apply oneself to the task of staying in the middle. There’s very little margin of error. It is best to stick to basics. Scoring runs matter in this wicket, not how fast you’re doing it. The ball is turning a lot while the bounce is still fine. You may want to do many things when you are set but this is not the sort of wicket to think in that,” he said.”I tried to play straight. I had to work very hard for each run in this innings. I would have felt bad if I made a mistake and it led to my dismissal. I think I was mostly in control. I am not too concerned about not getting a century, though I would have been happy to get a bigger score. But I will take this.”
