Lunch Pakistan 232 and 101 for 2 (Masood 41*, Babar 24*, Rana 1-16, Miraz 1-25) trail Bangladesh 278 and 390 by 336 runs
To Pakistan’s credit, the prospect of being run through by Bangladesh quickly did not deter them from continuing to be proactive. Off his first ball, Babar got a top edge that flew over the slips for a boundary. Masood, who had begun conservatively, began to come out of his shell, targeting Taskin Ahmed, picking up three gorgeously timed boundaries off him to get himself up and running.
It appeared to bring him out of his shell against Mehidy, who was unfortunate not to get Masood’s outside edge with a lovely delivery earlier, finding gaps through a packed cover region as the partnership approached 50.
It came thanks to a punched boundary off the back foot from Babar as Taijul Islam erred in length. The last six overs produced 46 runs as Pakistan brought up the 100, and though this is a positive little partnership, Pakistan will know they need much more than that if they are to make a dent in this record chase.
