Bangladesh pin their hopes on Mushfiqur-Shakib pair

Bangladesh are inching towards a big first innings score in the Chittagong Test to turn the screws on South Africa.

But the South African bowlers will surely look to restrict the Tigers.

Their teammates are now pinning their hope on their best batsmen Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib Al Hasan.

They were 179 for 4 at the end of Day Two of the first Test on Wednesday, still trailing the tourists by 69 runs in the first innings at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.

Mahmudullah said they were hopeful of a big lead as Mushfiqur and Shakib were still together.

“We are very much hopeful. Shakib and Mushfiq are still there. We need a big partnership,” Mahmudullah said in a press conference after the day’s play.

Mushfiqur was unbeaten on 16 and Shakib 1. The pair has notched up two 100-run Test partnerships. The team now wants them to string together a bigger partnership for the fifth wicket.

He got his last Test century in last September against West Indies. Since then, he has only one fifty in 16 innings to show for, having got out without scoring on three occasions.

On Wednesday, playing as a specialist batsman in the second consecutive Test, captain Mushfiqur batted confidently and scored the only six of the match.

He may be suddenly finding himself struggling for runs, but he is the team’s most dependable batsman. And now, given the way the match is poised, he has the opportunity to lead from the front.

Ranked top allrounder in all three formats of the game, Shakib is in great touch.

After failure in the only innings against India, he scored two unbeaten fifties against Pakistan in previous series.