After loss of almost two days to rain, Dhaka Test finally saw sunlight and Bangladesh’s fast bowlers began brightly on the fourth morning to pick up two Pakistan wickets by lunch. The visitors were 242 for 4, having lost both overnight batters after play started 80 minutes late due to rain.
Pakistan lost Azhar Ali in the second over of the morning, top-edging a pull off Ebadot Hossain, with wicketkeeper Liton Das comfortably taking the catch. Two overs later, Khaled Ahmed had Babar Azam lbw with a delivery that seamed into the Pakistan captain’s pads. Azhar made 56 of 144 balls with eight fours, while Babar struck nine fours and a six in his 76 off 129 balls.
It was Khaled Ahmed’s first Test wicket after 69.4 overs, bowled over three Tests in three years into his international career. It was just reward for a good spell and Khaled celebrated the big wicket with a huge roar and a clenched fist; his team-mates responded in kind, too.
Ebadot also bowled with a bit more confidence after taking Azhar’s wicket. He put both Mohammad Rizwan and Fawad Alam in trouble; Fawad faintly edged Ebadot but neither bowler nor wicketkeeper noticed the inflection.
He also got one to move away from Rizwan at the last moment, but while the umpire adjudged it lbw, replays showed it had taken his outside edge and fell short of the wicketkeeper. Rizwan later survived a leg-before decision against Taijul Islam, missing a sweep, but the ball tracking showed that the ball would have dramatically spun away from the stumps.
Rizwan was unbeaten on 26 while Fawad was on 19 when the teams went to lunch.
The stop-start match finally saw a bit of cricket on the fourth morning, having been stalled for most of the first three days. Fifty-seven overs were possible on the first day, while the second day allowed only 6.2 overs. The third day was a total washout as Dhaka bore the brunt of depression at the Bay of Bengal.
Pakistan had been waiting on 188 for 2 for a long time, after only 63.2 overs were bowled in the first three days. They were 161 for two at the end of the truncated first day, before adding another 27 runs on the second day. Both teams didn’t even come to the ground on the third day due to the heavy rain.
