Bangladesh and Shakib toil without reward

You can't blame Shakib Al Hasan for not giving a warning about his difficulties. Two days before the first Test against Pakistan, he had said that he needed more training bowling long spells and that he wouldn't want to bowl for a long time in the first innings.

But he has had to in Pakistan's first innings, and the on-the-job training didn't go to plan for Shakib, who had taken a 10-wicket haul in the last Test held in Khulna, in 2014. He went wicketless for 31 overs, giving away 122 runs. After Mushfiqur Rahim dropped Azhar Ali in his fourth over on the second day, there was hardly any other chance Shakib produced. This was a rare bad day for Shakib, who is Bangladesh's highest wicket-taker with 140 scalps; unarguably their best bowler of all time.

Between the last Test series against Zimbabwe and this game, Shakib has played 14 ODIs, eight List-A matches for Legends of Rupganj in the Dhaka Premier League, four T20s for Melbourne Renegades and two for Kolkata Knight Riders. Rubel Hossain too hadn't played a first-class match during this period while Taijul Islam played just one.

This so far is Shakib's second most expensive spell (for a minimum of 31 overs bowled) after the January 2014 Test against Sri Lanka in Mirpur, where he conceded at 4.35 for 35 overs but took five wickets. Only twice has he bowled more overs without a wicket, against Pakistan in 2011 when he bowled 41.5 overs and against West Indies in Mirpur the following year.

Shakib was heavily leg-sidish even when he was bowling around the wicket to the right-handers, conceding 95 out of his 122 runs in that area. Mohammad Hafeez milked him for 48 out of his 57 runs through this region, picking up four fours and two sixes.

Mushfiqur, who sat out on the third day to nurse his injured finger, participated in some fitness drills at the end of the day's play, and said that Shakib will bounce back. However, his poor day meant that the other bowlers suffered too.

"I don't think he has been able to bowl at the level he is expected to operate," Mushfiqur said. "It could be physical fatigue or may be it is because he hasn't played the longer version. But he is a very smart player and he will pick up these things quickly. We are in the back foot now. If the best bowler doesn't bowl well, it becomes hard for the other bowlers in the attack."

Rubel and Mohammad Shahid had their moments but were either too straight or too wide at least once an over. Left-arm spinner Taijul took three wickets, he castled Younis Khan, had Sami Aslam caught behind on the second day, and Misbah-ul-Haq caught at fine-leg late on the third day. Shuvagata Hom bowled Azhar Ali with one that broke through his defenses and removed his middle-stump while his wicket of Hafeez was more the batsman's bad luck than anything else.

But Taijul, Shuvagata and the rest of the bowlers gave more runs on the leg-side than the off-side. Tamim Iqbal, the stand-in captain, set good fields at times and there were moments he could, along with the bowler, make the Pakistan batsmen stay patient but it was not to be for too long. Eventually there was a ball on leg or middle which would be whipped or swept for runs.

Mushfiqur said that the bowling was a disappointment, particularly the way Hafeez collected 131 out of his 224 runs from the leg side. He admitted that catches were dropped but said more chances should have been created and better lines bowled.

"Bowling wasn't up to the mark. Hafeez's wagon wheel will tell you that he didn't get too many boundaries off good balls. You have to at least make them sweep at deliveries on the stump. If you look at the pitch map of Hafeez and Babar when they bowled, you will see they didn't give many bad balls.

"We don't have to take five-six wickets but create chances. It is our fault if we can't take those chances but bowling in the right place is our livelihood. The bowlers have been disappointing, but it was still a better day than yesterday. We got a few more wickets."

Mushfiqur said that the bowlers let down Tamim, who gave them close-in fielders, but were still hit for four. He also said that the lack of first-class cricket since Bangladesh's last Test cannot be an excuse.

"You have to execute what you have planned, no matter where I was. The bowler has to do it. If you give four close fielders and then bowl a long-hop, you won't be successful. They scored a lot of runs on the legside, as you said. You have to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, even if you score 1,000 runs.

"We were playing the ODIs, so at least they would bowl well in the first ten overs. We cannot use it as an excuse. At this level, you have to manage it. The batsmen worked hard to get runs," he said.

Bangladesh's upwardly mobile cricketers, particularly riding on the high of the last five months of limited-overs cricket, were expected to help them stay confident in the first Test against Pakistan. But two days of training and only a couple of bowlers with recent first-class matches was never going to be ideal preparation. They will now have to minimize the damage on the fourth day and hope their confident batsmen can bail out their side.