Bangladesh openers make merry

– Openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes hit unbeaten centuries to lead a brilliant fightback by Bangladesh on the fourth day of the first Test against Pakistan here yesterday.

The left-handed pair put on their nation’s highest partnership for any wicket as Bangladesh, trailing by 296 runs on the first innings, closed the day strongly at 273/0 in their second knock.

Tamim was unbeaten on 138 to become the first Bangladesh batsman to score seven Test centuries, beating former captain Mohammad Ashraful’s tally of six

Khulna

hundreds.

It was Tamim’s third ton in as many Tests, having made identical scores of 109 in the last two Tests against Zimbabwe in November.

Imrul was on 132, his third hundred, as the bowlers toiled on the placid wicket at the Sheikh Abu Naser stadium that has already produced 1 233 runs and just 20 wickets over the four days.

The pair batted through just over two sessions to surpass the previous record of 267 by Ashraful and current skipper Mushfiqur Rahim for the fi fth wicket against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2013.

Tamim and Imrul had put on an opening stand of 224 during Bangladesh’s previous Test – against Zimbabwe in Chittagong – and carried on in the same manner yesterday.

Fears that Bangladesh may struggle to bat out two days to save the match, after Pakistan ran up 628 in their first innings, proved unfounded as the openers settled in to tame the bowling.

Earlier, the tourists took their overnight score of 537/5 to 628 before they were all out shortly before lunch. –