Afridi hurts Bangladesh to leave Test in balance

Bangladesh 330 (Liton 114, Mushfiqur 91, Hasan 5-51) and 39 for 4 (Afridi 3-6) lead Pakistan 286 (Abid 133, Shafique 52, Taijul 7-116) by 83 runs

Chattogram: Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled a probing spell to take three wickets helping Pakistan claw their way back against Bangladesh on Day 3 of the ongoing first Test here at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on Sunday.

At stumps, Bangladesh's score read 39/4 with the hosts leading by 83 runs.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali are currently unbeaten at the crease.

After taking a lead of 44, Bangladesh got off to a bad start as the hosts lost four wickets with just 25 runs on the board.

Shadman Islam (1), Najmul Hossain Shanto (0) and Saif Hassan (18*) were dismissed by Shaheen Shah Afridi while Mominul Haque (0) was sent back to the pavilion by Hasan Ali.

Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali then ensured that Bangladesh do not lose any more wickets before the close of play.

Earlier, resuming Day 3 at 145/0, overnight batter Abdullah Shafique (52) and Azhar Ali (0) were sent back to the pavilion in quick succession by Taijul Islam.

Skipper Babar Azam (10) and Fawad Alam (8) also departed cheaply and Pakistan was quickly reduced to 203/4.

Abid Ali, however, went on to score a century and at the lunch interval, the visitors score read 203/4.

After the lunch break, Abid Ali (133) and Mohammad Rizwan (5) fell in quick succession, reducing Pakistan to 217/6 in the 94th over.

In the end, Faheem Ashraf played a 38-run knock but this did not prove enough as Bangladesh ended up taking a lead of 44 after bundling out Pakistan for 286.