Left-arm spinner Zafar Ansari dismissed Mahmudullah Riyad off the final ball of the day to bring England back into the contest in the second Test after Bangladesh surged ahead with 152-3 at stumps on the second day. Bangladesh made a confident start in the second innings thanks to a fluent batting by their top-order after Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid shared 99 runs in the ninth wicket to give England a vital 24-run first innings lead.
The hosts wiped out the deficit quickly and went for almost five runs in an over in the final session to put the pressure back on England before Ansari's late strike restored some parity for the visitors. Ansari earlier removed Tamim Iqbal for 40 to make the first innings century maker his maiden Test wicket and two balls later Ben Stokes got rid of Mominul Haque to put a brake on Bangladesh's breakneck speed. But Imrul Kayes, unbeaten on 59, and Mahmudullah shared 86 runs for the third wicket to help the home side claw back their advantage.
They were leading England by 128 runs at the end of the second day's play with seven wickets in hand, which must have given them hopes for setting a decent target for England to chase in the fourth innings. "I think a lead of 300 would be good enough," said Bangladesh off-spinner Mehedi Hasan, who starred with 6-82 in England's innings.
"You cannot determine anything at the moment because there is still a lot of cricket left in the remaining three days," he said. Bangladesh dominated the opening session of the day to claim five wickets putting England on the ropes before Woakes and Rashid staged a fightback. Woakes made 46 while Rashid added an unbeaten 44 to lift England 244 from a precarious 144-8 giving them a handy 24-run lead in the first innings. "I think the partnership was crucial between us," Woakes said after the second day's play. "The slim lead surely added some advantage. The game would have different if we were 80 runs behind." Their die-hard batting overshadowed the bowling heroics of Bangladesh's teenage spin sensation Mehedi, who completed his second five-wicket haul in as many matches.
Mehedi broke the partnership with the second new ball when he forced an edge from Woakes at slip and five balls later left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, who claimed 3-65, wrapped up England's innings.
Scoreboard
Bangladesh 1st innings 220 (Tamim Iqbal 104, Mominul Haque 66, M. Ali 5-57, C. Woakes 3-30)
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England first innings (overnight 50-3)
A. Cook lbw b Mehedi 14
B. Duckett c Rahim b Shakib 7
J. Root lbw b Taijul 56
G. Ballance c Rahim b Mehedi 9
M. Ali b Mehedi 10
B. Stokes c Mominul b Taijul 0
J. Bairstow lbw b Mehedi 24
Z. Ansari c Shuvagata b Mehedi 13
C. Woakes Shuvagata b Mehedi 46
A. Rashid not out 44
S. Finn c Rahim b Taijul 0
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Extras: (b13, lb7, nb 1) 23
Total: (all out; 81.3 overs) 244
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Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Duckett), 2-24 (Cook), 3-42 ( Ballance), 4-64 ( Ali), 5-69 (Stokes), 6-114 ( Baristow), 7-140 (Ansari), 8-144 (Root), 9-243 ( Woakes), 10-244 ( Finn)
Bowling: Mehedi 28-2-82-6, Shakib 16-5-41-1, Taijul 25.3-3-65-3, Kamrul 3-0-16-0, Shuvagata 4-0-8-0, Sabbir 5-0-12-0 (nb1)
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Bangladesh second innings
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T. Iqbal c Cook b Ansari 40
I. Kayes not out 59
M. Haque c Cook b Stokes 1
Mahmudullah b Ansari 47
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Extras: (b1, lb2, w1, nb1) 5
Total: (3 wkts, 31 overs) 152
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Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Tamim), 2-66 (Mominul), 3-152 (Mahmudullah)
To bat: Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Shuvagata Hom, Mehedi Hasan, Taijul Islam, Kamrul Islam
Bowling: Finn 3-0-18-0, Ali 8-0-34-0, Ansari 8-0-33-2, Stokes 5-1-20-1 (nb1, w1), Rashid 5-0-30-0, Woakes 2-0-14-0
Toss: Bangladesh
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI) and Sundaram Ravi (IND)
TV umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI).
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