Feature

The not-so-old foes, and Sunny's arm-ball trick

Plays of the day from the third ODI between Bangladesh and Pakistan in Mirpur

Nasir Hossain took another good catch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium  •  Associated Press

Nasir Hossain took another good catch at the Shere Bangla National Stadium  •  Associated Press

The not-so-old foes
When Taskin Ahmed came on to bowl to Sami Aslam in the second over, it wasn't the first encounter between the bowler and batsman. Over two years ago, Taskin had dismissed Aslam in an Under-19 World Cup match in Townsville. On his ODI debut, though, the familiarity helped Aslam more than Taskin as the batsman got his first boundary off the seventh ball he faced with a belter of a pull. Taskin had started the over with a back-of-a-length delivery and went at it a little quicker the next ball. Aslam swung himself with the shot, his front leg up for balance. The ball sped past the square-leg umpire.
The arm-ball trick
Before this series, Arafat Sunny had never bowled to Mohammad Hafeez at any level but got his wicket for the second time in a row. The left-arm spinner got the wicket with a delivery that rushed back to his stumps with the arm angle, effectively an arm-ball. A few days before the third ODI, Sunny had admitted he did not know how he bowled the arm-ball, but in this instance it seemed like Hafeez wasn't aware of it either. He rushed down the pitch and swung towards leg but missed it and was bowled. In the second ODI, Hafeez played around the length of the ball in an attempt to force it off the back foot.
The bolt
Nasir Hossain likes fielding in the deep, particularly the boundary in front of the grandstand at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, where he can feed off the crowd's energy. He took a good catch in the first ODI off a Sarfraz Ahmed sweep and in this game, he took a brilliant diving catch off Fawad Alam's bat. After the left-hander had swung towards the leg-side, Nasir ran hard to his left from midwicket and dived full-length to complete the catch. The celebrations were muted, though, as he hurt his leg while taking the catch.
The toss-up
Towards the end of his superb spell, Shakib Al Hasan was looking for more breakthroughs. Pakistan had lost six wickets when he started his tenth over but he kept luring the batsmen with a few flighted deliveries. His final ball was far too kind to Wahab Riaz. Shakib read the situation to a tee and had basically tossed up the ball in the air, inviting him to have a go, anywhere. Riaz, perhaps more concerned of Pakistan's spiral, respectfully patted it to cover.
The correction shot
Soumya Sarkar's strokes have been the most watchable in this ODI series but his innings have not lasted more than 36 deliveries. After two innings of promise, Soumya began his third in a similar fashion. By the first 12 balls he had struck four boundaries, the last of which made many just stare in admiration. After his attempt to hammer Umar Gul over midwicket got him a four despite not being timed properly, Soumya repeated the dose the next ball through the same region but with a distinct aesthetic effect. The ball was on his hips again but this time he stood on his back foot and got the ball on top of the bounce, and with a whip off his elbow, took the ball past midwicket. He had more boundaries in the innings but none was better.
The wait
Soumya Sarkar got to his maiden ODI hundred with a pulled six over midwicket. But there was a moment of flutter as the deep midwicket fielder started to negotiate with the high ball. Just for a moment it seemed he may get a finger to it but the powerful shot got over the rope and hit the advertising board. Soumya waited for that moment and then celebrated by wheeling his arm a number of times in exultation. Behind him, Mushfiqur Rahim clapped his bat on his left hand in appreciation. He raised his bat after another short wait.

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84