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Tea Bangladesh 186 for 6 (Mushfiqur 32*, Mahmudullah 0*, Nasir 52, Edwards 3-42) v West Indies
Fidel Edwards struck early in each session © AFP
In each session, Bangladesh were jolted early. In each session, they fought back. And in each session, with depressing familiarity, they also gave away whatever ground they had regained. The result was that despite Bangladesh's best batsman, Tamim Iqbal, batting nearly two hours, and Nasir Hossain counter-attacking with a fifty, it was West Indies who had removed six batsmen on a flat, low and slow Khulna pitch.
In Tamim's defence, he had at least fallen trying to preserve his wicket close to lunch. Nasir's brain fade came moments before tea, when he charged at Veerasammy Permaul and lofted him straight to mid on. Till then, Nasir had batted with the calm confidence he had shown in Mirpur against the West Indies spinners.
After Edwards had dismissed Shakib Al Hasan and Naeem Islam in successive overs after lunch, Darren Sammy had Permaul and Sunil Narine bowling in tandem for a few overs. Nasir toyed with the duo, especially Narine, whose figures for the series now stand at 3 for 250. For a while, it rained boundaries in Khulna, Test cricket's latest and 107th venue, as the spinners were lofted cleanly down the ground and over midwicket.
At the other end, Mushfiqur Rahim batted with maturity, defending solidly as the stand raced towards 100. From 98 for 5 to 185 for 5 had been a swift mini-recovery, but even as the crowd's hopes rose and tea beckoned, Nasir blew it.
Proceedings had been similar in the morning. Darren Sammy had to turn to his bowling discipline and intelligence to help West Indies remove the Bangladesh top order. West Indies started with the tactic that had won them the Mirpur Test - a barrage of short balls - but soon realised the pitch had hardly any life for the gambit to sustain for long. Sammy focussed on the old-fashioned, and unglamorous, strategy of sticking to one line outside off stump, varied his angle, and reaped the rewards. He broke a growing second-wicket stand by removing Shahriar Nafees, and then took the big wicket of Tamim.
Tamim perished in doing what many experts and former players want him to - take time to build an innings, rather than bash every third delivery to the boundary. It went against his natural free-flowing style, but he defended innocuous length deliveries he could have easily smashed out of sight, and left remorselessly outside off stump, which is what ultimately cost him his wicket. He shouldered arms to six of his previous eight deliveries against Sammy, who either took them away slightly or bowled them straight. One of them, though, was angled in; Tamim, deep into the routine of leaving by now, raised his bat again, only to find he had misjudged the angle, and to see the off stump rattled.
A few overs earlier, Sammy had taken out Nafees in somewhat similar fashion. Three successive deliveries were sent down outside off, and Nafees let all of them go. The fourth one was angled in, drew the batsman forward into a defensive push, and left him slightly to take the edge to the wicketkeeper.
Sammy's strikes won West Indies a session that seemed to be slipping away from them. Edwards, playing in place of the injured Ravi Rampaul, had Nazimuddin early with a well-directed short ball, a delivery that had troubled Junaid Siddique, the man Nazimuddin had replaced from the first Test.
Tamim and Nafees had several close moments against the same delivery, with a few fends carrying over the infield, but soon settled down to play the pull effectively. Sammy himself tried the short stuff early in his spell, and was taken for successive, disdainful fours by Nafees. The West Indies captain immediately changed his plans, and took the pitch out of the equation with his nous.
Edwards was in business early again, this time after lunch, with pitched-up deliveries. Naeem went after the fast bowler's first ball of the session and inside-edged it onto his stumps. Shakib, who had been dropped at second slip by Darren Bravo fifth ball after lunch, nicked a length ball behind.
Nasir arrived and started with an edged four past slip. The way he went on to dominate the West Indies attack, he should rightly be kicking himself while sipping his tea.
Fidel Edwards struck early in each session © AFP
In each session, Bangladesh were jolted early. In each session, they fought back. And in each session, with depressing familiarity, they also gave away whatever ground they had regained. The result was that despite Bangladesh's best batsman, Tamim Iqbal, batting nearly two hours, and Nasir Hossain counter-attacking with a fifty, it was West Indies who had removed six batsmen on a flat, low and slow Khulna pitch.
In Tamim's defence, he had at least fallen trying to preserve his wicket close to lunch. Nasir's brain fade came moments before tea, when he charged at Veerasammy Permaul and lofted him straight to mid on. Till then, Nasir had batted with the calm confidence he had shown in Mirpur against the West Indies spinners.
After Edwards had dismissed Shakib Al Hasan and Naeem Islam in successive overs after lunch, Darren Sammy had Permaul and Sunil Narine bowling in tandem for a few overs. Nasir toyed with the duo, especially Narine, whose figures for the series now stand at 3 for 250. For a while, it rained boundaries in Khulna, Test cricket's latest and 107th venue, as the spinners were lofted cleanly down the ground and over midwicket.
At the other end, Mushfiqur Rahim batted with maturity, defending solidly as the stand raced towards 100. From 98 for 5 to 185 for 5 had been a swift mini-recovery, but even as the crowd's hopes rose and tea beckoned, Nasir blew it.
Proceedings had been similar in the morning. Darren Sammy had to turn to his bowling discipline and intelligence to help West Indies remove the Bangladesh top order. West Indies started with the tactic that had won them the Mirpur Test - a barrage of short balls - but soon realised the pitch had hardly any life for the gambit to sustain for long. Sammy focussed on the old-fashioned, and unglamorous, strategy of sticking to one line outside off stump, varied his angle, and reaped the rewards. He broke a growing second-wicket stand by removing Shahriar Nafees, and then took the big wicket of Tamim.
Tamim perished in doing what many experts and former players want him to - take time to build an innings, rather than bash every third delivery to the boundary. It went against his natural free-flowing style, but he defended innocuous length deliveries he could have easily smashed out of sight, and left remorselessly outside off stump, which is what ultimately cost him his wicket. He shouldered arms to six of his previous eight deliveries against Sammy, who either took them away slightly or bowled them straight. One of them, though, was angled in; Tamim, deep into the routine of leaving by now, raised his bat again, only to find he had misjudged the angle, and to see the off stump rattled.
A few overs earlier, Sammy had taken out Nafees in somewhat similar fashion. Three successive deliveries were sent down outside off, and Nafees let all of them go. The fourth one was angled in, drew the batsman forward into a defensive push, and left him slightly to take the edge to the wicketkeeper.
Sammy's strikes won West Indies a session that seemed to be slipping away from them. Edwards, playing in place of the injured Ravi Rampaul, had Nazimuddin early with a well-directed short ball, a delivery that had troubled Junaid Siddique, the man Nazimuddin had replaced from the first Test.
Tamim and Nafees had several close moments against the same delivery, with a few fends carrying over the infield, but soon settled down to play the pull effectively. Sammy himself tried the short stuff early in his spell, and was taken for successive, disdainful fours by Nafees. The West Indies captain immediately changed his plans, and took the pitch out of the equation with his nous.
Edwards was in business early again, this time after lunch, with pitched-up deliveries. Naeem went after the fast bowler's first ball of the session and inside-edged it onto his stumps. Shakib, who had been dropped at second slip by Darren Bravo fifth ball after lunch, nicked a length ball behind.
Nasir arrived and started with an edged four past slip. The way he went on to dominate the West Indies attack, he should rightly be kicking himself while sipping his tea.