Bangladesh ended the second day of the Sylhet Test on 110 for 3 in their second innings, leading Pakistan by 156 runs, with Najmul Hossain Shanto unbeaten at the close and Mushfiqur Rahim set to join him on day three. The plan is straightforward: bat as long as possible and make Pakistan’s target as steep as they can.
Nahid Rana, speaking at the post-day press conference, made the team’s intentions clear. “There is no specific target of 200, 250 or 300. We have three days left. We will try to bat the whole of tomorrow. After tomorrow there are still two more days. Our only plan is to bat as long as we can,” he said.
The day began with Bangladesh holding a first-innings lead of 46 runs, and their bowlers had earned that advantage with an outstanding collective effort. Nahid and Taijul Islam each took three wickets, while Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed two apiece. The decisive moment had come in the morning session when Taskin dismissed both Pakistan openers in his first two overs, with Shoriful Islam applying relentless pressure from the other end without reward in the wickets column.
Nahid was generous in crediting the opening burst from Taskin and Shoriful. “They bowled with a lot of discipline from the start and created a partnership from both ends. When both ends are putting pressure on the batter, they are forced into mistakes or they start overthinking when the scoreboard is not moving. Shoriful bhai and Taskin bhai tried to take advantage of that and they succeeded,” he said.
After Litton Das’s first-innings century had set the tone on day one, Bangladesh’s second innings began with the loss of Tanzid Hasan cheaply, but Mahmudul Hasan Joy steadied things with a composed 52 before being dismissed. Mominul Haque fell for 30 in the final over of the day, a moment of frustration at the close of an otherwise positive session, but the overall picture remained firmly in Bangladesh’s favour.
