Twitter Reactions: Shaheen Afridi puts Pakistan in command after Taijul Islam’s seven-fer

After three days of jaw-dropping action in Chattogram, Pakistan should be the happier of the two teams. The visitors endured a batting collapse, but their bowlers put their team back in command. In a roller-coaster of a day, Bangladesh threatened to take the game away from their opponents, but poor batting kept pushing them back. The Tigers are currently leading by 83 runs with six wickets in hand.

Taijul Islam steps up

Bangladesh made a thunderous start to the day’s play. In the very first over, Taijul Islam sent back Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali back to the hut. Babar Azam, Fawad Alam and Mohammad Rizwan couldn’t show much resistance either as Pakistan were reduced to 207 for five from being 146 for no loss at one stage. Amidst the dominance from the spinners, Ebadot Hossain accounted for Rizwan’s wicket.

The situation didn’t fluster Abid Ali much as the right-hander notched his fourth Test ton off 209 balls. He went on to score 133 runs with 12 fours and two sixes before he fell prey to Taijul. Pakistan couldn’t recover from the jolts and were shot out for 286. Faheem Ashraf showed some resistance with a 38-run knock. Taijul didn’t stop and claimed a seven-wicket haul to restrict the visiting team.

Shaheen guides Pakistan

Having conceded a 44-run lead, Pakistan had lost quite a bit of momentum. But speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi came out firing on all cylinders and put pressure on the Bangladesh batting. The left-arm pacer picked up the wickets of Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto in the fifth over of the innings. Opening batter Saif Hassan started with three four before he became Shaheen’s third victim.

Mominul Haque’s torrid time as a batter came to an end after Hasan Ali sent him back for a two-ball duck. From being in a dominating position, the Tigers were reduced to 25 for four in the 11th over. In the end, Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali Chowdhury made sure that the hosts didn’t lose any more wicket. For Pakistan, Nauman Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Nauman Ali also kept things tight.

Here’s how the netizens reacted to the day’s play