Litton and Mehidy fifties help Bangladesh to recover
Khurram Shahzad struck for a sixth time, on the stroke of tea, to impose Pakistan's advantage again.
Terrific counterattacking half-centuries from Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz brought Bangladesh back from the absolute brink on the third day of the second Test in Rawalpindi. They do still trail Pakistan by 81 runs with only two wickets in hand but that is a significant improvement on their position earlier in the game.
Having been reduced to 26 for 6 in the first hour on Sunday, courtesy of a searing spell from Khurram Shahzad and Mir Hamza, Litton and Mehidy fought back with a 165-run stand for the seventh wicket, helping Bangladesh avoid the follow-on in the process. Their partnership took the visitors to 193 for 8 at tea.
Mehidy fell a few minutes before the break to Shahzad, who claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket but not before giving Bangladesh something to smile about.
Resuming on 75 for 6, after lunch, still trailing Pakistan by 199 runs, Litton took the attacking route. He came down particularly hard on Shahzad, the first-session wrecker-in-chief. Litton first took him for two fours in three balls in the third over of the session, before smashing him for three fours on the bounce in the next as Bangladesh scored 40 runs in the first six overs after lunch. Litton and Mehidy brought up the 100-run stand for the seventh wicket soon after.
Litton reached his 18th Test fifty with a clip toward a deep backward square leg while Mehidy also did not take much time to reach his eighth Test half-century. With the ball now old and not getting much assistance off the pitch, both batters made merry. Pakistan was not helped by the fact that fast bowler Mohammad Ali was forced to go off the field as he wasn't feeling well.
Source: ESPN
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