Babar and Azhar fifties bolster Pakistan on rain-truncated second day

Stumps Pakistan 188 for 2 (Babar 71*, Azhar 52, Taijul 2-49) vs Bangladesh

Rain, which got heavier in the afternoon, allowed only thirty minutes of play on the second day of the Dhaka Test. With no respite in sight, play was called off at 3pm.

Azhar Ali found enough time in the 6.2 overs bowled on day two to reach his 34th Test half-century, as Pakistan moved ahead by 27 runs without any further damages since the first morning.

Babar Azam, unbeaten on 71, tucked the first delivery of the day for four, after Khaled Ahmed bowled it down the leg-side. Azhar soon brought up the 100-run stand before he struck two fours off Ebadot Hossain to reach his fifty, off 126 balls. The pair have so far added 118 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand.

Rain brought day two to a halt at 1:20pm, exactly 30 minutes after play had begun. It was a day of light to heavy showers, which started around half an hour before the scheduled start of play. At any rate, the second day kicked off after a delay. The first time the umpires announced the possibility of a start to the day's proceedings was at 11:20am, but five minutes before play was to get underway, rain returned, forcing the players back into the dressing room.

The weather lived up to the original forecast of a downpour on Sunday, and it is likely to continue into the third and fourth days. This is due to the deep depression that caused by the cyclone Jawad on the west-central Bay of Bengal.