A desired Tigers day in office

For someone who has been associated with Bangladesh cricket for a long time and wishing for a near flawless approach from the Tigers to start a Test match, that wish to some extent has been fulfilled at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium here yesterday.

The score-line 236-4 at the end of the opening day's play of the first Test against Pakistan hardly tells how well the Tigers have played to the true essence of the five-day game. The run-rate may not be impressive, but the application on a slow and low wicket where the ball stopped was a sight to behold.

From Tamim Iqbal to Mominul Haque, the last batsman out on the penultimate ball of the day, not a single batsman has thrown his wicket away. The opening pair of Tamim and Imrul Kayes withstood the early pressure, ducking the odd short balls from Wahab Riaz and carefully leaving those zippers on the off-corridor. The first hour of play saw Bangladesh score just 23 runs in 15 overs and by time the umpires called for the lunch break the score was 60-1. It was 150-2 at tea and the day could have ended in a more befitting fashion had Mominul not missed that arm ball from left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar.

But by the time the tiny Mominul led all the men in white out of the ground he has racked up yet another half-century, his tenth in as many matches. Mominul was out after scoring a composed 80, the highest on the day.

When the left-hander arrived at the crease in the 27th over after Tamim (25) was smartly caught by Azhar Ali at short leg, it was like cometh the man tailor-made for Tests. He struck eight boundaries in his 162-ball vigil, including two superbly executed cuts off Mohammad Hafeez. Mominul, not convinced whether the ball had hit his pad in line, asked for review which was eventually turned down. He was earlier given a second life on 17 by Babar, who failed to take a tough return catch.

And in the process Bangladesh lost one of their two first innings reviews against Pakistan's none. Pakistan had asked for two reviews and both were unsuccessful.

Imrul played the best shot of the day -- a hook against Wahab down to the square-leg boundary -- to complete his 50 off 130 balls with a boundary off Hafeez. But he got out to the same bowler in the same over while attempting a flick, managing only a leading edge for a tame catch back to the bowler.

Mahmudullah also played obdurately for his 49 off 123 balls, but got out to a superb delivery from Wahab, who squared him up with an angled ball that the batsman could only nick behind the wicket where wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed took a diving catch. It was a spectacular effort from Sarfraz in a Pakistan fielding, which was again not up to the mark. The butter-fingered fielders dropped Tamim while he was on 17, Imrul at 12 and on 30.

But Pakistan bowled a disciplined line and length and hardly allowed the Tigers, apparently on first gear, to score easy runs. With Shakib Al Hasan at the crease on 19 and captain Mushfiqur Rahim to join on the second morning, it now remains to be seen how the two best Bangladesh batsmen negotiate the morning session before stepping up the gear.