Pakistan 274 and 9 to 2 (Mahmoud 2-3) lead Bangladesh 262 points with a 21 point lead (Ritten 138 points, Mehidy 78 points, Shahzad 6-90 points, Salman 2-13 points)
Resuming at 193 for 8 after tea, Litton and Mahmud delayed the Pakistan bowlers for more than two hours. Litton refused singles and gave Mahmud only a few balls, ploughing most of the strikes. Mahmud showed solid fielding skills and helped Litton reach his hundred. The wicketkeeper-batter, who overcame severe cramps in the second over, reached the milestone with a delicate dab pass backward point.
Pakistan finally got the last two wickets when Litton mistimed his shot to bowl Salman Ali Agha and sank it at long-on. Two balls later, No. 11 Nahid Rana extended his arm to his shoulder and hit a straight ball, and was out lbw. Apart from Shahzad, Hamza and Salman also got two wickets each.
Earlier, Bangladesh’s top order looked bewildered by Pakistan’s pair of Shahzad and Mir Hamza, who hit sixes off 34 balls in the first hour, swinging the new ball through the hoop and, more importantly, holding their line.
Hamza created the opportunity, but it was Shahzad who took the wicket, picking off three balls from five. His plan was quite simple: target the Bangladeshi left-hander around the wicket and keep the stumps in play at all times. It worked brilliantly.
Shahzad had Zakir Hasan bounce it majestically as Abrar Ahmed took a simple catch around the short midwicket zone. In the next over, he got clean off Shadman Islam, the opener walking across his stumps but failing to account for Shahzad’s swing. Three balls later, Najmul Hossain Shanto walked back and played a full ball around, which was shaken by his middle stumps.
Hamza caught Mominul Haque on the first ball of the ninth over. It was a mild out, and the batsman chipped a full-length ball to mid-on with the Bangladesh score reading 20-4. It soon became 26-5 when Hamza got a length ball that was chewed up very late by First Test hero Mushfiqur Rahim, who managed only a thin edge to Mohammad Rizwan. Shahzad caught Shakib Al Hasan, who was adjudged lbw for playing the wrong line. Shakib was reviewed but to no avail.
Bangladesh’s lowest Test total of 43 for 6 looked dangerous, but Mehidy and Litton got them over that hurdle and more. With the ball shining and Khurram-Hamza out of the attack, the two batsmen dug in and took Bangladesh to lunch without further damage.
Litton took an aggressive approach after the break. Still 199 runs behind Pakistan, he attacked Shahzad particularly hard, taking two fours from three balls in the third over of the session and three more fours off a bounce in the next over. Bangladesh were 40 runs from their first six overs after lunch. Litton and Mehidy soon made 100 for the seventh wicket, and then avoided a follow-on attack that was reduced to 150 after the openers were disqualified.
Litton clipped a deep backward square leg over to reach his fifty and Mehidy also didn’t take long to reach his eighth Test half-century. Pakistan were left without help after fast bowler Mohammad Ali left the field due to illness.
When Shahzad decided to go short, Litton and Mehidy played him with full shots and had decent success with them. Litton hit the fast bowler deep square leg, while Mehidy got inside the line and did the same with long leg. Having only 15 runs in his first seven overs, Shahzad scored 58 runs in his next six overs. But he made a comeback.
He tricked Mehidy with a fuller ball and threw it back to the bowler, giving Shahzad five wickets and he quickly added another, trapping Taskin Ahmed just in front of the stumps to signal tea time.
Pakistan were hoping to end their innings quickly after the break, but Mahmood and Litton were not going to have that happen.
Ashish Pant is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo.
