In Test cricket, the difference between a great session and a poor one can sometimes just be one dropped catch. When the recipient happens to be the opposition's batting lynchpin, it's a perfect recipe for things going haywire. For Bangladesh, reprieving Babar Azam on 3 could well be the moment where things truly turned, even though the Rawalpindi Test is just five sessions old, ESPN reports.
Bangladesh had dismissed Azhar Ali minutes before lunch to break a 91-run stand. In the third over after the interval, Babar should've followed him. Taijul Islam, the left-arm spinner, lulled him into a false stroke with an excellent delivery that dipped and spun. Looking to loft over mid-off, Babar didn't get to the pitch and sliced it.
Ebadat Hossain ran back and circled under the ball, but grassed the chance and then saw Babar race away to his 14th Test half-century. At the other end, Shan Masood continued his Test match rejuvenation by bringing up his third Test century, his second on the trot, to further deflate the visitors. Pakistan went into tea on 206 for 3, trailing Bangladesh by just 27 runs.
As controlled and composed as Masood was, he also overcame flashes of impatience along the way. Having played an exquisite square drive to the fence, he should've been out nicking next ball to Rubel Hossain. However, neither the bowler nor wicketkeeper Liton Das appealed and replays confirmed there was a small spike. Fortunately for Bangladesh, it didn't cost them much as Masood was out driving to Taijul, deceived by the sharp turn and beaten on the inside edge as the ball crashed into the leg stump on 1090.
This was their only moment of cheer in an otherwise disappointing session where they could neither restrict runs nor pick up wickets. The rash shot that earned him a reprieve wasn't Babar's only indiscretion in the session. He was nearly out nicking Rubel when he tried to flay a length ball on the up, only to be beaten by one that nipped away sharply. The first 20 minutes of the session was largely about Babar trying to shake off any signs of this being a cakewalk and then putting on his game face.
And as the session progressed, he mellowed down to play some exquisite on-drives and backfoot punches off the faster bowlers. Such was the flurry of runs at one point that Masood slipped into the role of a second fiddle and enjoyed the best seat in the house.
In the morning session, Bangladesh struck twice, both gifts to loose shots. Fresh off back-to-back tons in his first two Tests, Abir Ali slashed at one early on, while Azhar Ali fell in similar fashion shortly before lunch. But the 91-run partnership in between whittled Bangladesh's lead. Masood understood perfectly what was required in these conditions, sitting back and punching off the back foot through the offside to great effect, while the weight transfer through his shots resulted in him piercing the gap in the covers on numerous occasions.
He had struck nine boundaries when he brought up his half-century off just 54 balls, deceptively quick for a man who appeared not to have taken one risk along the way. Once the fifty was out of the way, he quietly slipped into second gear and enjoyed Babar take it away until he was dismissed for a century, a minor lapse in concentration giving Bangla desh some joy at the end of a long session of toil.
