Bangladesh condemned to embarrassing innings defeat against Pakistan despite almost three days of rain

After all the doom and gloom for the first four days, the sun finally shone brightly on day five of the second Test match between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The clouds that vanished from the sky of Mirpur in the space of 24 hours probably gathered where Bangladesh's fate was being written. More than half of the overs were lost due to rain, yet it couldn't save Bangladesh from a shambolic innings defeat, that too at home. 

The hosts lost the second and final Test by an innings and 8 runs at Mirpur thanks to the terrible batting showdown by the home side. And it was only the third time in the 21st century that a team won a Test match after scoring 300 or less in the first innings. 

Bangladesh started the fifth day with 25 runs required to avoid the follow-on. But they lost Taijul Islam in just the second over of the day. Three balls later, Khaled Ahmed was cleaned up by Shaheen Shah Afridi. He went back to the dressing room as the ninth batter.

Shakib Al Hasan, who was unbeaten overnight on 23, survived three and a half overs more with Ebadot Hossain. He had no option but to take the bowlers on and ended up chipping the ball to short cover as he charged down the pitch. Bangladesh were all-out for 87 and Pakistan decided to make Bangladesh bat again. Shakib and Najmul Hossain Shanto top-scored for the hosts with 30.

Bangladesh were 213 runs behind when the two openers - Shadman Islam and Mahmudul Hasan Joy - walked out to bat for the second time in the space of 24 hours. But their form with the bat remained the same as Bangladesh lost both their openers inside five overs to Hasan Ali and Shaheen. 

Mominul Haque too got out cheaply, leg before to Hasan Ali although there could be a debate whether the ball hit his pad or bat first. 

Shanto was done by the slight movement and extra bounce and edged the ball to wide of gully to Fawad Alam. With his dismissal, Bangladesh were staring down the barrel at 25 for four. 

Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim then stuck together and ensured there was no further damage before lunch. Bangladesh went into lunch at 72 for four.

Just after lunch, they duo completed the 50-run partnership. Mushfiqur opted for a more sedate approach while Liton played his natural game. 

But Liton was caught at square leg as Sajid Khan broke the 73-run partnership. Mushfiq then built another 49-run stand with Shakib Al Hasan. The duo looked comfortable in the middle until an attempted single which was risky led to Mushfiqur's downfall. Just moments before the tea, his dismissal left Bangladesh in a big hole once again. Mushfiqur batted calmly for the most part and scored 48 off 136 balls.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz accompanied Shakib for 23.1 overs and negated both the pacers and spinners pretty well. Babar Azam, who bowled for the first time in his international career in this match, got the better of Miraz all of a sudden. He brought himself on in the 76th over of the innings and straightaway pinned Miraz leg-before as he went for a sweep. Babar broke the 51-run stand between Shakib and Miraz and that was a major turning point of the match. 

Shakib played exceedingly well coming out to bat at number seven. He negated the spin off the back foot initially and later decided to face them off the front foot and advance down the wicket. He played Sajid Khan well in particular, hitting him for boundaries through the covers and down the ground. 

Shakib was fluent against the pacers as well and his three consecutive boundaries off Hasan Ali were one of the highlights of his innings. But he became a bit impatient after Miraz's dismissal as he was starting to run out of partners. Sajid cleaned up Shakib nine balls after Miraz got out and it was the last nail in the coffin for Bangladesh. The southpaw scored 63 off 130 deliveries with the help of nine fours.

Sajid in his next over sent back Khaled and Pakistan then were just one scalp away from victory. 

The match went right down the wire as the last pair of Bangladesh frustrated Pakistan for a while. The light was fading and the number of overs remaining was decreasing. But who better than Sajid Khan to do the job for the visitors? He trapped Taijul leg-before. when just 5.2 overs were remaining in the day. Taijul reviewed but it was three reds in the hawk-eye and Pakistan earned a victory by an innings and eight runs.

Sajid Khan took 12 wickets in the match and without any surprise won the player-of-the-match award. Abid Ali, who was the highest run-getter of the two-match series, was adjudged the player of the series.