Spinners Mehidy and Shakib lead Bangladesh to maiden Pakistan Test win

RAWALPINDI: Spinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan took seven wickets between them to secure Bangladesh’s maiden win over Pakistan in five-day cricket, a stunning 10-wicket victory in the first Test in Rawalpindi on Sunday.

Mehidy grabbed 4-21 and Shakib 3-44 to trigger a Pakistan collapse on the fifth day, with the home side dismissed for 146 runs in 55.5 overs.

That left Bangladesh a target of just 30 runs, which openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam reached in 6.3 overs.

Zakir (15) hit the winning boundary, with Shadman at the other end unbeaten on nine, as their squad celebrated a memorable victory.

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Mohammad Rizwan top-scored for Pakistan in the second innings with 51, including six boundaries, but the home team were staring at defeat on 108-6 at lunch.

A holiday crowd of nearly 5,000 expected Pakistan to fight out a draw but Mehidy bowled Rizwan and trapped last man Mohammad Ali for a duck in successive overs.

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto dedicated the win to people who were killed in political turmoil that resulted in the ouster of premier Sheikh Hasina this month after weeks of student-led protests.

“We are paying tribute to the individuals who recently passed away in our nation during the protest and praying for their souls,” he said.

“Thanks Almighty for the win. It was very special to win on my special day,” said Najmul, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Sunday.

Pakistan skipper Shan Masood described the loss as “disappointing”.

“Yes, it is a very disappointing loss,” said Masood who has lost four successive Tests as skipper. “We did not take Bangladesh lightly but the pitch did not play as we expected.”

Bangladesh, criticised for their lack of Test wins, now have one win each over Australia, England and Pakistan.

The win in Rawalpindi was only their sixth in 143 Tests.

Pakistan’s batting crumbled on a pitch that had been unresponsive over the first four days until small cracks started to appear that were exploited by Bangladesh’s spinners.

The hosts also paid for not including a frontline spinner as they fell to the fifth defeat in their past nine home matches, with four draws.

Their leading batsmen also failed, with Babar Azam making only 22 and skipper Masood 14. First innings century-maker Saud Shakeel fell for a fourth-ball duck.

Pakistan trailed by 117 on the first innings and resumed at 23-1, only to lose Masood in the second over to pace bowler Hasan Mahmud.

It could have been 28-3 had wicketkeeper Liton Das not dropped a regulation catch off fast bowler Shoriful Islam to give Azam a first-ball reprieve.

Azam hit three boundaries to raise hopes of a Pakistan fightback but was bowled by an inside edge off Nahid Rana for the right-arm paceman’s only wicket of the match.

Shakib, whose participation in the Test drew protests at home over his political ties to Hasina, had Shakeel stumped and Shafique caught off a miscued shot before lunch.

Agha Salman then fell to off-spinner Mehidy for a first-ball duck, leaving Pakistan in tatters at 105-6.

Mehidy then dismissed Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah cheaply in the space of seven runs.

Pakistan won 12 of the previous 13 Tests against Bangladesh, six by an innings, with one draw.

The second and final Test will also be played at Rawalpindi from Friday, with the series part of the World Test Championship (WTC).

Pakistan slumped to eighth in the nine-team WTC table after their defeat, with Bangladesh climbing to sixth.