Mominul ticks past 5,000 Test runs as rain and a Shanto fifty leave Bangladesh in charge in Mirpur
Mominul Haque pushed his Test career past 5,000 runs and shared a third-wicket fifty stand with captain Najmul Hossain Shanto on a Mirpur day that lost its entire middle session to rain. Bangladesh closed day four on 152 for 3, a lead of 179 with seven wickets in hand, and the first Test against Pakistan now points firmly at a draw.
Mominul into the 5,000 club, Shanto unbeaten on 58
Mominul became the third Bangladesh batter to reach 5,000 Test runs, ticking the milestone over in the 30s on his way to a second-innings half-century. He sits on 5,006 from 76 Tests at an average of 38.21, the third name on the country's all-time list behind Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal. Mominul had already top-scored in the first innings with 91, and his second-innings 56 off 120 balls completed an outstanding match with the bat.
Shanto, who hit his ninth Test hundred on day one, walked off unbeaten on 58 from 105 when bad light ended play at 5:20pm. The pair had put on 105 for the third wicket before Mominul fell, and Mushfiqur joined Shanto to see out the closing overs on 16 from 31. Hasan Ali's only success of the day, removing Mominul, finished as 1 for 23.
Three hours of rain wipe out the middle session
Bangladesh would have hoped to set up a declaration window earlier in the day, but the weather had other ideas. A three-hour interruption swallowed the entire second session, and what could have been 90 overs of pressure cricket on Pakistan turned into 50 overs spread either side of a long break.
By the time play resumed there was barely time for Bangladesh to push past a triple-figure lead before the umpires walked off for the light. The forecast for day five is friendlier, around a 15 percent chance of rain in Dhaka with a high of 33C, but most of the morning will go on Bangladesh batting Pakistan out of the game rather than chasing a result.
Where the match goes from here
Pakistan made 386 in their first innings; Bangladesh replied with 413, and the home side now hold a 179-run lead with two recognised batters at the crease. Shanto will likely look to push the lead past 250 in the morning before declaring, leaving Pakistan a session and a half to bat for a draw on a fifth-day Mirpur surface that should turn for the spinners.
Pakistan's hopes are anchored to the weather and to the runs already in the bank from their first innings, when debutant Azan Awais's 103 and a 106-run opening stand with Imam-ul-Haq showed this surface still has plenty in it for the bat. The forecast favours them, the scoreboard does not, and the second Test starts in Sylhet on May 16.
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