Babar Azam goes past Ben Stokes in Test cricket

Former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam scored his 28th fifty in the World Test Championships (WTC) on Sunday. The feat came during the BAN vs Pak Test being played in Sylhet. With his fifty, the right-handed batter went past English skipper Ben Stokes, who has 27 fifties to his name. 

England batter Joe Root leads the list with 45 half-centuries, with Australian batters Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith at number two and three. Labuschagne has hit 35 fifties, with Smith scoring 34. For India, Ravindra Jadeja has scored the most fifties (23), closely followed by Rishabh Pant with 22 and Yashasvi Jaiswal (20). 

The 31-year-old had missed the opening game in Dhaka due to fitness concerns and came into the game for Imam-ul-Haq. Ahead of the game, certain reports were stating that Azam was ready to replace Shan Masood as the new Test captain after the opening Test debacle. 

Bangladeshi bowlers peg back Pakistan with regular wickets

After being bowled out for a mere 278, the hosts saw the visiting side end the opening day without losing a wicket. Taskin Ahmed got the first wicket of the day when he had Abdullah Fazal caught by Litton Das for nine runs. The pacer struck again, this time getting the wicket of Azan Awais for 13 runs. 

Skipper Masood and Babar then added 38 runs for the third wicket before Mehidy Miraz got the left-handed batter out for 21. The off-spinner struck once more to get rid of Saud Shakeel for six runs. Nahid Rana then got the big wicket of Pakistan’s former skipper, caught by Mushfiqur Rahim in the 40th over. 

Taijul Islam’s triple strike has visitors reeling 

The home team seemed to claw their way back into the contest when left-arm spinner Taijul Islam ran through the lower middle-order. Taijul first got rid of Salman Agha for 21, and then followed it up with the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan (13) and Hasan Ali for 18 runs. 

At tea, the visiting side were placed at 206 for the loss of eight wickets, still needing 73 runs to go past the Bangladeshi side. Sajid Khan was batting on 12 with Khurram Shahzad for company on 10.