Bad light steals the spotlight as play curtailed on first day of Mirpur Test

Pakistan recovered from Taijul Islam burst to reach 161-2 before bad light halted and ended the first day's play at Mirpur on Saturday. The day's play was halted several times due to light drizzle and bad light. After checking the light readings, the umpires called it a day as the bad light wiped out the entire last session.

The skies remained dark and overcast with the floodlights assisting through much of a session that began with real optimism for Bangladesh in the morning. 

On an overcast day at Mirpur, where Pakistan opted to bat first. The hosts welcomed back Shakib Al Hasan, who last played a Test match at Mirpur in 2008, as well as fast bowler Khaled Ahmed who was entrusted with the task alongside Ebadot to make early inroads. U-19 WC winner Mahmudul Hasan Joy made his Test debut.

The home side pacers went through a phase where they tried too hard and ended up erring with lengths as the Pakistan openers collected fours to get their partnership going. They didn't have much restraint against spinners Taijul Islam and Shakib either when the opportunities came up, as the Pakistan pair took the team to 54 for 0 after the first-hour mark. 

The morning session was one of two halves as Pakistan made steady progress in the first hour, only for Bangladesh's spinners to strike back in the second.

Openers Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique eased to their third successive fifty partnership. This time, however, they could not convert it to three figures, thanks to probing spells from Taijul and Shakib. The openers came with the intention of adding to their partnerships of 146 and 151 in Chattogram, but could only go as far as 59 at Mirpur. 

Taijul was the man to take both wickets, knocking back the openers' stumps as Pakistan. The spinner first breached Shafique's bat-pad gap. Following his 133 and 91 in the first Test, Abid Ali looked all set for another big score but fell for 39. Shortly after, Abid followed suit on a similar delivery, playing it onto the stumps. The visitors were reduced to 78 for 2 after going almost four runs an over in the first hour.

Taijul Islam, whose 11-over spell earned Bangladesh the two wickets in the morning session, continued from one end after the Lunch break. He bowled six more overs without making inroads into Pakistan's third-wicket stand before rain halted play. Babar and Azhar survived several tricky moments at the outset of their innings, particularly against Taijul.

After a brief 25-minute halt due to passing showers, which appeared to sap momentum from the home side, the Pakistan pair continued to add to the team total. Skipper Babar Azam and Azhar Ali steadied a ship that had been rocked by Taijul Islam before lunch, batting through either side of a brief rain delay to deny the hosts any further wickets before tea. 

Babar's fluency was on full display thereafter. Khaled Ahmed had the chance to hold on to a difficult chance on the boundary when Babar took the aerial route, but that was spurned and the batter followed up with a more authoritative pull towards midwicket. 

The Pakistan captain brought up a fluid half-century while Azhar's innings was more of a battling knock as he shuffled on to 36 in 112 balls. Azhar Ali looked shaky and was once hit on his helmet by a bouncer of pacer Ebadot Hossain. To his luck, it didn't cause much damage as he looked okay and continued to bat. Mominul employed spin from both ends with Shakib-Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, but Pakistan marched on unscathed.

Taijul remained the most successful bowler for Bangladesh with 2 for 49 from his 17 overs.

By Tea, the pair had added an unbeaten 91 runs for the third wicket. The play couldn't resume after a number of inspections by the umpires before finally being called off as the overhead conditions failed to improve. 

The next four days will have early starts, though with rain expected to be a factor over much of the weekend, the play will start a half-hour earlier on Sunday and 98 overs are expected to be played if weather or light permits.