Naeem Islam batted the old-fashioned way - he gave the first hour of the
day to the West Indies bowlers and by tea, he had constructed his
maiden Test hundred. Naeem's effort, and his partnerships with the
self-destructive Shakib Al Hasan and the solid Mushfiqur Rahim, carried
Bangladesh comfortably past the follow-on mark of 328, and would have
even raised faint hopes of taking a lead.
Naeem faced 50 deliveries for eight runs till the first drinks break,
took 27 off 47 in the next hour, and scored 40 off 71 in the second
session to reach an emotional first century. At the other end, Shakib
prospered through a mixture of fortune and attack before ultimately
perishing to an overdose of the latter eleven runs shy of a hundred.
Mushfiqur arrived and displayed the crisp solidity that defines his
batting as Bangladesh took 97 off the deficit between lunch and tea.
Naeem's knock stood out not only for its resolve but also for what
Bangladesh have often missed - a solid foil to the genius of Tamim Iqbal
and Shakib. On day two, Shahriar Nafees, instead of doing a Naeem, had
tried to match Tamim stroke for outrageous stroke, and had perished
soon. Today, as Shakib went about tackling the West Indies attack in his
own way, Naeem ensured the pyrotechnics were limited to one end, as he
defended and left with purpose.
Shakib rode his fortune in the morning to keep the runs flowing. He was
caught behind off a no-ball and came close to getting dismissed a few
times, all against Ravi Rampaul, but survived, and then thrived. Rampaul
got consistent bounce from short of a good length, and had Shakib in
trouble. He beat Shakib outside off stump, had him edging just short of
gully and a half-hearted top-edged pull fell at vacant square leg. In
between, Rampaul pushed Shakib back with sharp bouncers. Shakib tried to
hit out, and edged a follow-up wide delivery to the wicketkeeper in the
43rd over, but replays showed Rampaul had overstepped. That was to be
the closest West Indies came all morning to breaking through.
Despite the close shaves, Shakib hardly held back. The accurate
Veerasammy Permaul was slog-swept for boundaries. The fast bowlers were
driven through cover. Darren Sammy was cut behind point. Naeem changed
character after the first hour. He swept the third ball after drinks
from Permaul for four. Sunil Narine was swatted over midwicket. Sammy
was squeezed behind point for consecutive fours. He responded by beating
Naeem twice in his next over, but the batsman ended Bangladesh's
session on a high by steering Sammy to the third-man rope. Eighty-eight
runs without a wicket in the first session - Bangladesh could have
hardly hoped for a better start today.
It was to get better indeed after lunch, for a while at least. Shakib
calmly drove the first ball after the break, from Narine, through extra
cover for four. Narine wasn't able to create any impact, and was hit out
of the attack next over by Shakib with consecutive boundaries. Narine's
departure led to Shakib's dismissal as Rampaul returned to finally get
his due. With the attack at his mercy and a century beckoning, Shakib
walked out and mishit Rampaul to extra cover to walk off with an angry
swish of his bat.
Rampaul now tested Naeem and Mushfiqur as he moved the old ball in at
sharp pace, and Sammy created further problems by taking it away off the
seam at the other end. It was the first time two seamers were operating
from either end today. Mushfiqur escaped with an edged boundary past
the slip cordon, but recovered to clip Sammy off his pads through
midwicket for four more.
Sammy gave the spinners a few overs before taking the new ball, and
Naeem and Mushfiqur cashed in against Narine. The new ball, taken in the
83rd over, did not do as much as the old one had. Rahim capitalised
with a few punchy fours. Naeem, after playing out a maiden to Tino Best
on 98, flicked the fast bowler to the fine leg rope and fell into his
captain's embrace.
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