Bangladesh walked off in Sylhet on Monday evening feeling the job is almost done. Pakistan, chasing 437, slipped from a position of relative comfort to 316 for 7 once the new ball and a bit of nervous energy did their work. They still need 121 and have only three wickets left; wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is the last recognised batter standing.
Bowling coach Shaun Tait kept his assessment straightforward. “Well, I think we’ll bowl them out on the fifth day,” he said, not bothering with caveats. “We have been bowling well generally, so I think what happens then [is that] you expect it every day. It doesn’t always work that way. We are in a good position now.”
That good position looked shakier earlier in the heat of the afternoon. Babar Azam and Shan Masood put on 92 for the second wicket, then Rizwan and Salman Agha added 134 for the sixth. The surface flattened, Bangladesh’s seamers lost a bit of snap and the scoreboard rolled on at close to three an over – almost a hundred runs in each session. Tait admitted the conditions were draining: “It was a very hot day … The wicket became really good. These are not excuses.”
The momentum changed, almost out of nowhere, with fifteen minutes left. Mehidy Hasan’s extra bounce had Agha fending to slip and, next over, Hasan Ali chipped a return catch. Two wickets, suddenly, turned a tense finish into one Bangladesh can control.
Earlier, the dismissal that really lifted the home side came via Litton Das. Taijul Islam slid one down the leg side, Babar glanced and Litton’s gloves flashed. Ball lodged, Bangladesh roared. Tait was effusive: “He has been so tidy behind the stumps. He has been fantastic … Litton’s keeping at the moment is just absolutely world-class. I think, to be honest, the way he’s batting, I think as a cricketer at the moment he’s probably at the top of his game.”
For an hour or so after tea, though, Rizwan and Agha looked unflustered. The dug-out, Tait said, was “not tense, but excited”. Mushfiqur Rahim’s sharp throw from cover almost caught Agha short of his ground in the 73rd over; that near-miss convinced the bowlers a door would open. “I tell you what: there was some excitement in the dugout when that run-out [chance] was so close,” Tait recalled. “We thought that was the breakthrough we needed, and then it came through Taijul.”
Test cricket often turns late in the day, the Australian noted. “You hope that in the last session, you can pinch a couple of wickets, which I suppose we did. I know there’s people that coming here today expect the game to be over, but Pakistan played really well today.”
Much has been said about the surface in Sylhet. It offered seam on day one, turn on day two and, by the fourth afternoon, felt almost benign. Tait, though, is not complaining. “The wickets have been quite good for cricket in Bangladesh recently – whether it be the white-ball series or these Tests – and I think that’s healthy. You want a contest that goes deep, and we’ve had that.”
Bangladesh will start the final morning with a hard, hands-up ball, a fresh Taijul and Mehidy in rhythm, and Ebadot Hossain itching for reverse swing. Pakistan, for their part, require a burst of counter-attacking clarity from Rizwan, plus a long tail-end vigil. It’s still possible; just unlikely, given the evidence of four days.
Tait, never much for grand speeches, kept it simple when asked for a prediction. “We’re in a good position,” he repeated, “and if we do our basics, we should finish the series tomorrow.”
