Lunch Pakistan 448 for 6 dec and 108 for 6 (Rizwan 22*, Shaheen 1*, Shakib 2-24, Mehidy 1-5) trail Bangladesh 565 by nine runs

Pakistan had already lost Saim Ayub to Shoriful Islam on the fourth evening, and in the morning, Bangladesh’s other bowlers combined to remove five more frontline batters in the space of 26 overs, leaving them still nine behind with just four wickets in hand. The two remaining sessions are set to be extended ones because of the overs lost to rain on the first day.

The 10-over-old ball wasn’t swinging as much in the morning as it did on the previous evening but Shan Masood fell early when he edged one behind off Hasan Mahmud outside off. The on-field umpire didn’t give it out but Bangladesh reviewed, like they did in the first innings, and saw the decision overturned after a spike on UltraEdge, leaving Masood unhappy yet again.

He peppered Babar with short balls that went regularly above 145kmph to push him on the back foot. He followed it up with one pitched up outside off, which Babar couldn’t move his feet quickly enough to, and was chopped on for 22. Shakib stifled Pakistan from the other end with stump-to-stump lines and the pressure led to another wicket in the next over when Shakeel stepped out to negotiate the turn but missed, and was left stumped for a duck.

The conditions hadn’t changed from the previous day, but it was Bangladesh’s intent with bowling changes and field placements that created wicket-taking opportunities. Pakistan were still trailing by 50 when Mohammad Rizwan, their first-innings centurion, walked out and wiped out a chunk of that with a counter-attacking innings, even if it came with some amount of risk.

He attacked a slightly-tired Nahid with a hat-trick of fours when the quick erred with his lengths and nearly chopped on in the same over when he went after a delivery with hard hands even though it kept slightly low. In the next over, Shafique pulled a short ball from Shakib for four and Rizwan followed it with a slog sweep for another boundary that made it 26 runs scored off two overs, and brought the deficit down to just 16.

That’s when Shafique, who had displayed patience from the other end, threw his wicket away, giving Bangladesh the advantage again. With just over three overs left for lunch, he danced down the pitch and attempted a heave over mid-off only to hand a leading edge to Shadman Islam at backward point. Two balls later, Mehidy, who replaced Nahid, bowled a teasing offbreak to draw the new batter Salman forward to defend and drew his outside edge. This time Shadman took a sharp catch at slip with a dive to his left and Salman’s stay lasted all of one ball.

A more circumspect Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi saw through the remaining 16 deliveries before lunch but not without some tense moments. Afridi survived a loud lbw appeal against Shakib and then survived the review with ball-tracking showing the turning ball going over his stumps. Rizwan also had a stumping appeal against him in the dying moments of the session, but his foot was inside the crease.

Pakistan are now staring at another defeat at home, having not won a Test match on home soil since February 2021. Since then, they have lost four and drawn five.