Taufeeq Umar rode his luck to crack 130 as Pakistan closed in on Bangladesh's first-innings total on the third day of the second and final Test in Dhaka.
The left-handed opener hit 16 fours in his seventh Test century, and second against Bangladesh, as Pakistan reached 3 for 292 in its first innings at stumps in reply to the hosts' 338.
Pakistan was just 46 runs behind with seven wickets in hand.
Umar put on 127 for the second wicket with Azhar Ali (57) and 95 for the next with Younis Khan, who remained unbeaten on 48.
Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq was 26 not out when bad light stopped play.
Bangladesh paceman Nazmul Hossain, who returned to the Test side after seven years, struck with the second new ball when he had Umar caught by Shahriar Nafees at second slip in the last session.
"Every hundred is important in Tests but I think my debut century (in 2001) against Bangladesh was the best," Umar said.
"The plan was to play normal game and wait for the bad ball. We are in a better position now
"We will try our best to win this game as we have world-class bowlers, but it depends a lot on the weather."
Pakistan lost just two wickets in the entire day, adding 205 runs to its overnight total of 1 for 87 after a delayed start due to fog.
Bangladesh went wicketless in the opening session and failed to make the most of the chances that came its way, letting off Umar three times and Younis once.
"Had we not dropped a couple of catches, we would have been in a different position by the end of the day," Nazmul said.
"There are still two days to go and it depends a lot on the weather, but we will take it session by session and try to get a positive result."
The first opportunity came when Umar was on 56, but wicket-keeper Mushfiqur Rahim did not even try to stump him off left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan while confidently appealing for a catch down the leg-side.
Umar was lucky to survive on 66 when he cut the first ball after lunch off paceman Robiul Islam, but Mohammed Nazimuddin dropped an easy catch at gully.
He was on 118 when Nafees failed to hold on to an edge at short-leg off left-arm spinner Elias Sunny, while Younis was dropped on 15 by Shahadat Hossain off Nasir Hossain.
Umar, 44 overnight, went on to complete his hundred when he cut off-spinner Mohammad Mahmudullah for a four in the second session.
Pakistan leads 1-0 in the series after winning the opening Test in Chittagong by an innings and 184 runs.
AFP
Tags: cricket, sport, bangladesh, pakistan First posted December 19, 2011 22:51:00
No comments:
Post a Comment