BAN v ENG, 1st Test Day 2 Review: Bangladesh batsmen help stabilize

While Day 1 of the first Test between Bangladesh and England saw Chittagong get treated to some wonderful performances from the Bangla batsmen who quite clearly showed they had character. However, in spite of this, England managed to put the brakes on the hosts as they began to chip away at their mystique, something that was extremely unprecedented. However, when one takes stock at the end of the day’s play, it seems quite clear that the Bangladeshis have their noses in front.

Having lost seven wickets on the previous day, the Brits made their way out to make amends for their shortcomings with the bat. Chris Woakes made his way out to the center whilst he added some important runs with Adil Rashid. Stuart Broad then went ahead and pitched in a few runs before he was dismissed by Mehedi Hasan. With the 18-year old claiming his sixth wicket of the innings, it was clear that the Brits were chasing the game from the get-go.

When Bangladesh came out to bat, it was England who threw their game right back at them. Alastair Cook tossed the ball back to Gareth Batty who was finally getting an opportunity to chance his arm after a hiatus of almost 16 years. While Batty’s spell proved to be rather ineffective in terms of the wickets, it seemed quite clear that spin was going to be the deciding factor.

This saw the England pace bowling unit receive just the 23 overs of the 74 overs Bangladesh batted on the day. Moeen Ali was the first to strike when a quicker delivery dislodged the bails off Imrul Kayes after the southpaw had stroked his way to 21 impressive runs. Mominul Haque was the next to depart from the grand scheme of things when he was removed by an impressive Moeen Ali delivery just three deliveries later.

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The double-wicket over began to unnerve the hosts as they began to play with both respect and caution. Of course, they smashed the ball to different parts and put away the bad delivery, but, the agenda to get the hosts to a zone of safety was quite clear. It would take another piece of tactical brilliance to get rid of Mahmudullah when Alastair Cook brought on Adil Rashid. That quite effectively brought an end to the 90-run partnership the duo had stitched in slightly less than 30 overs.

While Tamim Iqbal threw caution to the wind, it was clear that skipper Mushfiqur Rahim did not feel the same way. He swung the bat at most deliveries, managing an important 48 as he did. However, Ben Stokes, the adversary of the Bangladesh side was there to take care of things as he dismissed the unassuming Mushfiqur when the latter attempted one risky shot too many.

Tamim Iqbal’s innings was brought to a close much earlier than that as the southpaw handed Gareth Batty his first wicket on the latter’s return. Shakib-Al-Hasan remained unbeaten on 31 as Day 3 now beckons for both sides.

Brief Scores:

England, 1st innings: 293 all out (M Ali 68; M Hasan 6/80)

Bangladesh, 1st innings: 221/5 (T Iqbal 78; M Ali 2/66)

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