Tamim Iqbal did what he usually does best but it could do little to help Bangladesh take the control against England in the second Test in Mirpur on Friday.
The Tigers collapsed spectacularly after Tamim’s eighth Test century, getting folded for 220 from 170-1 to hand England the command before the first day’s play was completed.
Spinners revived the hopes with some quick strikes reducing England to 50-3 before stumps were
drawn early due to rain at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The three England wickets relived the pain somewhat but could not erase them completely after Bangladesh’s morale suffered such a shuttering blow owing to their unexpected collapse.
Tamim hit 104 off 147 balls and shared 170 runs with Mominul Haque to take them such a comfortable position from where they could easily expect a total around 500 runs.
England’s attack looked nothing more than ordinary when the duo batted in the first session and the first one hour of the second session.
Many went to suggest if the wicket was placid without giving them the due credit but only realised it later that they have actually put in an outstanding effort on a difficult surface.
It was not a straight forward decision to bat first on this wicket as the sky was gloomy and England had three quality seamers in their lineup to exploit the condition.
Tamim and Mominul had the reasons to put themselves in shelve having seen Imrul Kayes’ first serious scoring attempt becoming a catch at point to end his innings on one.
Tamim gave the bowlers their due respect and took 19 balls to get off the mark, showing signs of his growing maturity that was bound to earn him some reward.
Mominul preferred the other form of defence- the attack- as he hit Chris Woakes for two fours in one over helping both himself and Tamim shrug off the initial jittery.
There was no looking back thereafter as the duo took the Tigers to 118-1 at lunch break, though Tamim had to take the help of a review by then courtesy of poor Kumar Dharamasena, who incorrectly declared him out caught behind off Ben Stokes at 66.
England were looking for a messiah in the post-lunch session, which they found in Moeen Ali, but not before Tamim drove him for two back-to-back fours through cover to bring his third Test century against England in six Tests.
Tamim’s penchant for intentional pad up finally cost him his wicket as Moeen trapped him in front to bring an end to his splendid innings, which featured 12 well executed boundaries.
Moeen soon got an inside edge to bowl out Mominul, who batted quietly but confidently before he left for 66.
No one could imagine what followed next as England claimed Bangladesh’s last nine wickets for 49 runs to get nearly a session for them to bat on the opening day.
Bangladeshi spinners had to do something special to bring the side back into the contest but it was never going to be an easy task against a side as experienced as England.
Mehedi Hasan and Sakib al Hasan still did their best to remove Ben Duckett (seven), Alastair Cook (14) and Gary Ballance (nine) to restore some parity, which prevented them from going to the bed on Friday utterly demoralised.
Source: New Age