West Indies 75 for 5 (Hetmyer 32*, Mehidy 3-36) trail Bangladesh 508 (Mahmudullah 136, Shakib 80) by 433 runs
DHAKA: After keeping West Indies on the field for most of the first two days to score 508 runs in their first innings, Bangladesh didn’t allow any let-ups with the ball. Mehidy Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan took five wickets in the first 12 overs of the visitors’ reply, recording a first in Test history in the process, as the first five batsmen were all bowled to spinners.
Mehidy took three wickets while Shakib took the other two to fall in a dominant day for the home side. From start to finish on day two, Bangladesh made all the running, culminating in a gasping last hour and 40 minutes that ended with West Indies on 75 for 5.
Kraigg Brathwaite has had a torrid time in this tour so far, this time Shakib Al Hasan’s arm-ball cutting between his bat and pad to hand him a duck. Mehidy did a similar thing to Kieran Powell, using the round-the-wicket angle to get through his bat and pad.
Things turned from bad to worse for West Indies in the ninth over when Sunil Ambris missed a full Shakib delivery with an ambitious lofted drive, but he was nowhere near the pitch of the ball. Roston Chase played down the wrong line to a Mehidy delivery that spun past his forward prod.
In Mehidy’s next over, West Indies slipped to 29 for 5, the lowest score against Bangladesh at five wickets down, when Shai Hope was completely undone by one that kept very low.
Shimron Hetmyer and Shane Dowrich, who batted well in the Chattogram Test too, salvaged the visitors in a 46-run stand for the unbroken sixth wicket. It was the only respite on a day when nothing really went their way.
For most of the day, it was Mahmudullah’s sturdy 136 that held Bangladesh together. He lasted six hours and 16 minutes at the crease, which took the home side through some crucial phases from the first to the second afternoon. Shadman Islam had earlier done the initial hard work through his impressive 76 on the first day, but after he and Mushfiqur fell in a short span, Mahmudullah dug deep.
He added 111 runs for the sixth wicket with Shakib who went on a boundary-spree early on the second morning, hitting five of his six fours. He made 80 off 139 balls before giving gully a straightforward catch off Kemar Roach. Liton Das followed in Shakib’s footsteps, attacking the West Indies bowlers in a first session in which Bangladesh added 128 runs in 25 overs.
Liton, who made 54 off 62 balls with eight fours and a six, fell soon after the lunch break and was followed by Mehidy Hasan back to the dressing room. Mahmudullah then took 30 balls to get through the nineties and into his century, but it was a crucial phase in which he and Taijul added 56 runs in 20.5 overs.
Taijul lasted 91 minutes before getting caught behind off Kraigg Brathwaite, who had earlier bowled Liton, before Nayeem Hasan and Mahmudullah frustrated West Indies for a further 9.2 overs in their tenth-wicket stand.
For the visitors, Kemar Roach, Devendra Bsihoo, Warrican and Brathwaite took two wickets each while there was one each for Shermon Lewis and Roston Chase.
