… Shakib Al Hasan unbeaten on 108
(REUTERS) – Shakib Al Hasan and Shahriar Nafees shared a record 180-run stand to take Bangladesh to a respectable 234-5 against Pakistan before bad light ended the opening day’s play of the second Test in Dhaka. The pair surpassed Bangladesh’s previous highest fifth-wicket stand of 144, set by Mehrab Hossain Jr and Mushfiqur Rahim against New Zealand in 2008, to steer the team away from early trouble after a strong opening spell from Pakistan’s Aizaz Cheema. The stand was also Bangladesh’s highest against Pakistan besting the 167 of Javed Omar and Habibul Bashar in 2003.
Shakib was unbeaten on 108, for his second Test century while Nafees fell to an awkward bouncer off Umar Gul on 97.
Wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal took a simple catch after the ball hit Nafees on the glove, ending his solid 177-ball innings that featured 12 boundaries.
“Whoever I’ve met after the last Test whether it was family members, ex-cricketers, management, journalists, etc they said that I looked very hurried,” Nafees said.
“I didn’t want to do it today. I was also determined that I won’t get out badly. I could be out, but I didn’t want to raise the question of why you got out like this?” he said.
Seamer Cheema had taken advantage of the bowler friendly conditions to claim three wickets and help reduce Bangladesh to 43-4 after play had been delayed by more than an hour because of dense fog
The 32-year-old medium-pacer had opener Nazimuddin (0) out leg-before-wicket with only his sixth delivery.
Gul then removed the under-performing Tamim Iqbal (14) when the Bangladesh opener’s attempted hook shot was caught by Cheema at backward fine leg.
Cheema returned to bowl out Mahmudullah for a first-ball duck to leave the home side, who needed to win the match to level the series after an innings defeat in the first Test, struggling on 21-3.
Nasir Hossain (7) went in the 14th over when he edged a simple catch to wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal off Cheema.
“After they lost four quick wickets, Shakib and Shahriar started to look for singles and leave the ball. At that point it became difficult to bowl against them,” Cheema said.

BANGLADESH first innings
T. Iqbal c Cheema b Gul    14
Nazimuddin lbw b Cheema    0
S. Nafees stp. A. Akmal b Gul    97
Mahmudullah b Cheema    0
N. Hussain c A. Akmal b Cheema    7
Shakib Al Hasan not out    108
M. Rahim not out    5
Extras:  (lb-3)    3
Total: (5 wickets, 68 overs)    234
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-16, 3-21, 4-43, 5-223.
Bowling: Umar Gul 14-1-63-2, A. Cheema 16-2-52-3, M. Hafeez 9-3-27-0, Saeed Ajmal 15-1-47-0, A. Rehman 14-0-42-0.