Mushfiqur's 14th Test ton hands Pakistan a 437 chase as Bangladesh take charge in Sylhet
Pakistan walked off Sylhet at the close of day three needing 437 to win, the kind of fourth-innings number that does not really sit on a Test scoreboard so much as loom over it. Mushfiqur Rahim put it there. His 137 in Bangladesh's second innings was his 14th Test century, one more than Mominul Haque, and the innings that finally pulled him clear at the top of his country's century list.
A 178-ball ton, and a 16,000-run milestone
Mushfiqur reached the hundred off 178 balls, nine fours and a six bringing it up off Mohammad Abbas in the 85th over. It came in his 102nd Test, and in the same knock he became the first Bangladesh batter to 16,000 runs in international cricket. He has stood on that ledger for years; the 14th hundred is the line that now separates him from Mominul.
The shape of his innings mattered as much as the milestone. Najmul Hossain Shanto fell early in the second innings and the chase target was still inside Pakistan's reach. Mushfiqur and Litton Das then built 123 for the fifth wicket, the partnership that swung the day. Litton finished on 69. A 77-run stand for the seventh wicket with Taijul Islam stretched the lead past 430 and pulled the game close to where the home side needed it.
Bangladesh's 390, Pakistan's record-sized chase
Bangladesh were bowled out for 390 in the end. Shahzad finished with four for 86, Sajid three for 126. The first innings had given the hosts only a 46-run lead from 278 against Pakistan's 232, so the second innings had to do everything, and it did.
Pakistan came out for two overs before the umpires took the players off for bad light. Abdullah Fazal and Azan Awais survived without scoring, Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam testing both ends. The openers will return on day four with two days and 437 still in front of them.
What day four asks of Pakistan
A 437 chase is not the kind of fourth innings Test sides win often. Bangladesh's attack now has time on its side rather than runs to make, and Pakistan need their top order to bat deep into day four to keep the draw alive. Anything less and the series leveller starts to slip.
For Mushfiqur, the day was about the count. Fourteen Test hundreds in 102 matches, the most by any Bangladesh batter, and the only one of them past 16,000 international runs. Bangladesh's case for sealing the series 2-0, after the 104-run win at Mirpur, sits on top of that innings.
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