Bangladesh 387 and 226 for 6 (Shakib 97, Nasir 64*, Best 3-26) trail West Indies 648 for 9 dec (Samuels 260, Chanderpaul 150*, Bravo 127, Shakib 4-151) by 35 runs
Shakib Al Hasan had been Bangladesh’s superman again. He’d bowled 52 overs in the West Indies first innings and become the second Bangladesh bowler to take 100 Test wickets. He had watched the first five Bangladesh batsmen disintegrate and proceeded to cut the 261-run deficit with thrilling, defiant strokes. But in the end, Shakib fell to the same lack of patience that plagues the Bangladesh Test line-up. He did not have the patience to sleep tonight three short of a Test hundred. First ball of the last over of the day, he charged Veerasammy Permaul, and holed out to mid-off. Shakib, along with Nasir Hossain, all but ensured West Indies would bat again, but his survival had promised so much more.
Tea Bangladesh 387 and 85 for 5 (Shakib 20*, Nasir 1*, Best 3-11) trail West Indies 648 for 9 dec (Samuels 260, Chanderpaul 150*, Bravo 127, Shakib 4-151) by 176 runs
Sohag Gazi and Shakib Al Hasan bowled nearly 110 overs between them in the West Indies first innings. The first five Bangladesh wickets lasted a collective 88 deliveries in the second innings, which wasn’t exactly surprising for a side that had spent nearly seven successive sessions on the field, and had lost 64 of its previous 74 Tests. What was surprising was the source of their woes. Tino Best, bowling with a hurt hamstring, needed 16 deliveries to take out three Bangladesh batsmen, including Tamim Iqbal.
Best did not bat, and West Indies closed their innings on 648 for 9 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul remaining unbeaten on 150, having also made an unbeaten 203 in the Mirpur Test. Facing a deficit of 261, Bangladesh had the task of batting at least four sessions to avoid losing the series 2-0 on a slightly deteriorating pitch.
The surface, though, had nothing to contribute to the fall of the home batsmen. For once, it was not even their usual tendency to self-destruct. They were just not good enough against the pace of Best and Fidel Edwards.
Nazimuddin played his first delivery, the third of the innings, from within the pads and Edwards swung it in just enough to trap him in front of middle and leg. Tamim and Shahriar Nafees, once again, batted as if hitting aggressive boundaries was the only way to bat in Test cricket.
As it had in Mirpur, the exhibition delighted the Khulna crowd for a few overs before the inadequacies took over. Shahriar had no clue how to deal with the short ball. He tried to back away and upper-cut one aimed at his head, and was caught at gully, but Edwards had overstepped.
Best, who came on in the ninth over, was to make no such mistake. He was in no position to go flat out as he had in Mirpur. But his first delivery had enough bite to jag in from short of a good length and bowl Tamim. Naeem Islam shouldered arms to his third delivery, which swung in late and hit off stump. Shahriar’s misery ended four overs later when he hopped and fended a bouncer to the slip cordon. At that stage, Best’s figures were 2.4-0-6-3.
All that was needed now to complete the set was a batsman throwing it away. Mushfiqur Rahim did just that as he charged at a Veerasammy Permaul delivery, missed and was bowled.
Shakib was left, yet again, to somehow take the match to day five. He had already bowled 52 overs, and had become the second Bangladesh bowler to take 100 Test wickets, after Mohammad Rafique, also a left-arm spinner. The Khulna pitch, after three days of slumber, had started producing deliveries that reared and spun sharply.
And as they so often do on the subcontinent as the game progresses, wickets came in a heap in the morning. Since Chris Gayle fell before lunch on day three, Bangladesh had toiled more than 180 overs for two wickets. Shakib produced two in an over, twice, close to lunch today.
With Best’s injury on their minds, West Indies’ cautious approach in the morning was somewhat understandable. They wanted to bat only once in the game, and wanted a lead around 300. Seventy-five runs came till lunch in 26 overs.
As lunch approached, the spinners started getting bounce and turn, and not just from the footmarks. Denesh Ramdin tried slog-sweeping, but only managed a thick edge to the wicketkeeper as the ball spun away sharply from off.
Darren Sammy lunged to defend a flighted delivery and edged it to slip, Permaul drove to short extra cover, and Sunil Narine was caught at forward short leg first ball. All dismissals were a result of the pitch deteriorating, which encouraged Shakib to flight the ball.
Chanderpaul, though, chugged untroubled to 150 and even his rate of scoring was constant over the three sessions he batted.
Gazi ended the innings when he had Edwards edging to Shakib in his 58th over, which was more than how many Bangladesh had lasted in the second innings in Mirpur. From their current position, it will be an achievement to match the Mirpur effort.
