Overnight dream comes true

Azhar Ali's innings in the last two days resembled the undying spirit of an artist trying his best to perfect a masterpiece. There might have initially been a few false strokes, but towards the end he managed to express himself exactly the way he wanted to.

The 30-year-old looked nervous at the start of his innings. He wasn't timing the ball as well he would have liked to and he was even dismissed by a delivery that was later deemed a no-ball.

However, he regrouped himself, played patiently and at the end of it all reached the mark that he was looking forward to -- the double hundred -- in style, by whacking Shakib Al Hasan for a six.

"Overnight, I was thinking about the double hundred, but at 127 you can't really say for sure if you were going to reach that mark," a smiling Azhar told reporters at the post-day press conference in Mirpur yesterday.

"So I just tried to play according to the situation. And that required me to be calm. I did that and after that we started rotating the strike and it got easier from then on," he added.

By staying calm, Azhar referred to the first hour on the opening day yesterday, when both Azhar and Asad Shafiq remained quiet and barely score runs. However, once they negotiated the early period, they went on to build a 207-run stand which tired the hosts.

"I think the best part about our batting was that we all stuck to our roles and played as a unit to put up a big score. And the icing on the cake was that we got five wickets which was very important for us in this session," said Azhar.

"I think we are in a very good position but we have to play good cricket in all five days until it's over. We have to come back and play hard cricket and get 15 more wickets," he added.

While his 226 played a big role in the innings, Azhar believed that the visitors scalping five wickets in 28 overs was the turning point of the game.

"The bowlers bowled really well. They [Bangladesh] fielded for a long time and our bowlers bowled in good areas. This is the result of work done in between the two Tests and it's paying off now, which is pleasing," said Azhar.