Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes put up record-breaking 312 runs in their second innings opening-stand against Pakistan that left the visitors awe-struck in the opening Test match of the two-match Test series at Khulna. They broke the highest opening pair stand in the second innings of the Test history, surpassing England’s Colin Cowdrey and Geoff Pullar, who added 290 against South Africa in 1960.
Pakistani bowlers could hardly put up any answer when the duo batted with courage and maturity, crossing several milestones in the process that reflected Tigers ‘never-say-never’ attitude at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium.
The standing ovation to the pair at the staircase of the dressing room by the Bangladesh team members on Friday reflected the manner in which they chose to defy all sorts of pressure and changed the total context of the game.
Pakistan took 296-run lead in the first inning and raised the question whether Bangladesh can come up with the temperament required to meet the call of the day.
The response was awesome to say the least, giving no indication of any pressure whatsoever and eventually when the partnership was broken by Zulfiqar Babar it was enough to leave long lasting effect in the mind of the fans present at the venue.
‘I think we both understand each other,’ Tamim told reporters. ‘There could be two ways going after it. We felt that offense is the best defense.
‘Usually we don’t talk about how we should go after an innings and to be honest we did not have any plan prior to our innings and only concentrated on playing our own game ,’ Tamim said.
Along the way they broke Tigers’ previous best partnership for any wicket that was achieved by Mohammad Ashraful and Mushfiqur Rahim against Sri Lanka of 267 runs at Galle in 2013.
The pair surpassed their own record of best 224-run opening pair achieved only in the previous Test against Zimbabwe in Chittagong in last November.
Bangladesh’s previous best opening stand in second innings was also between the same pair, when they put on 185 runs against England at Lord’s in 2010.
It was crucial for both the openers to keep their concentration through the first session of the fifth day as they were still behind and both managed to do so after resuming the crease on 273.
Pakistan had managed to break the partnership just before a rain break, but not before both batsmen, moving almost shoulder to shoulder, had reached their career-best scores.
One of the major features in their innings was their switching gears from time to time.
For Imrul it was a stiffer challenge as he had to keep wickets for 120 over after Mushfiq sustained pain in his ring finger.
But the Meherpur lad was determined to fulfill his responsibility despite all the physical ordeals.
‘I felt very weak, my body was aching,’ Imrul told reporters. ‘Tamim started to hit from the other end but I thought I would just hold my own for a while before I got the willingness to play my shots,’ he said.
-With New Age input
