It could have been better

The match had begun on an inauspicious note for the hosts. Skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza had overstepped on his very first ball and was then comfortably hoisted over cover as a result of the free-hit. However, the strategies he followed from there on turned out to work brilliantly.

Pakistan had survived the early onslaught from Mashrafe and Taskin Ahmed and were poised at a relatively comfortable 29 for no loss after six overs. That's when the skipper brought about the first changes. He brought in Arafat Sunny and Rubel Hossain and the move worked like a charm. Rubel got Sarfraz Ahmed caught in the slips with his very first ball while Sunny's arm-ball duped the dangerous Mohammad Hafeez in the following over.

Mashrafe then brought in Nasir Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan. After getting introduced in the 16th over, Shakib struck with only his third ball, getting Azhar Ali caught behind. The following over saw Nasir bowl Fawad Alam.

The half-centurion of the first ODI, Mohammad Rizwan, arrived at the crease next and Mashrafe responded by placing close-in fielders. After facing 20-odd balls Rizwan was stifled with a straighter delivery from Shakib.

At 77 for 5 in the 22nd over, one would have expected the visitors to be done and dusted, but instead they recovered to post a respectable 239. While youngster Saad Nasim and the experienced Wahab Riaz did show plenty of grit, one would have thought that the Tigers skipper, who had been brilliant until then, missed a few tricks towards the end.

The one thing that he probably could have done was to allow his pacers finish their quotas for they clearly looked menacing. Taskin was steaming in early on; the bouncer that banged on to Azhar's helmet in the sixth over displayed just how much the 19-year-old was enjoying himself.

In the same vein Rubel had begun his spell with a wicket and two maidens and looked daunting. However, both these bowlers had five overs remaining among themselves at the end of the innings.

After the 22nd over, Mashrafe, instead of bringing back his key bowlers, introduced Mahmudullah Riyad into the attack. It was a move which seemingly released the pressure. While Rubel was eventually brought back in the 28th over, he only got two overs. In a similar move, Taskin bowled over numbers 32 and 34 before the skipper introduced himself.

From the 35th over onwards, the bowling was dominated by Mashrafe, Shakib and Sunny. Mashrafe's death-bowling problems surfaced yet again, while the batsmen seemingly got used to the loopy deliveries from the slow left-armers and gave them a thud.

Incidentally, Rubel was given just one over in the powerplay and Taskin was handed the ball for the 48th and the 50th overs. While the 19-year-old did finish well, one reckons that the result could have been a lot better had he been given a longer spell early on.

At no point did the score of 239 look threatening for the Tigers. However, the events that followed in the latter half of the first innings yesterday could prove to be a learning experience for the aggressive skipper.