1st Test: Debutant Azan Awais leads Pakistan's fightback against Bangladesh
What's the story
Pakistan's young opening batsman Azan Awais made a stunning start to his Test career by scoring an unbeaten 85 on Day 2 of the opening Test against Bangladesh. The match is being played at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka. The debutant's brilliance meant the visitors finished Day 2 at 179/1 while responding to Bangladesh's first-innings score of 413/10. Here we look at the second day's report.
Bowling performance
Abbas fifer rattles the home team
Having dominated Day 1, Bangladesh resumed at their overnight score of 310/4. However, on Day 2, they lost wickets at regular intervals. Mushfiqur Rahim (71) and Litton Das (33) took their overnight stand to 62 runs before the latter was trapped. Taskin Ahmed's vital 28 took Bangladesh past 400. Pakistan's bowling attack was led by Mohammad Abbas, whose fifer dismissed Bangladesh for 413. Shaheen Afridi took three wickets while Hasan Ali and Noman Ali chipped in with one wicket each.
New faces
Strong performance from Pakistan top three
Abbas's strong bowling performance set the stage for Awais to showcase his talent with the bat, as he formed a century partnership with fellow opener Imam-ul-Haq. The duo added 106 runs before Imam was trapped for 45 off 72 balls. Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped him lbw. Awais was joined by another debutant, Abdullah Fazal, who returned unbeaten on 37 off 78 balls. The former made 85 runs and remained unfazed till the end, taking Pakistan's score to 179/1.
Mushfiqur
Mushfiqur breaks Tamim Iqbal's record
Mushfiqur's 71 came off 179 balls and was laced with eight fours. As per ESPNcricinfo, this was his 42nd 50-plus score in Tests, the most by a Bangladeshi batter, surpassing Tamim Iqbal's record of 41. Mushfiqur now owns 29 fifties and 13 tons. Bangladesh's highest run-getter in Tests, Mushfiqur has raced to 6,581 runs at 38.94. 637 of his runs have come against Pakistan at 42.46 (50s: 3, 100: 1).
Abbas
Abbas claims his sixth Test five-wicket haul
Abbas finished with 5/92 from 34 overs, out of which eight were maidens. With this spell, Abbas has raced to 105 Test scalps from 28 games. He averages 22.95, as this was his sixth fifer (10WM: 1). The veteran now has eight wickets across two Tests against Bangladesh at 18.
Rising star
Impressive domestic record of Azan Awais
Awais, 23, comes from Sialkot and has been part of Pakistan's U19 squad. His 85* off 133 balls was laced with 10 fours. He has an impressive record in First-Class cricket, having now taken his tally past 2,700 runs in 33 matches at an average of 48-plus. His tally includes 10 fifties and as many tons, with a career-high score of an unbeaten 203.