Ton-up Shan Masood, Babar Azam punish Bangladesh in first Test

Opener Shan Masood scored a commanding century as Pakistan dominated Bangladesh on the second day of the first Test at Rawalpindi on Saturday. The left-hander fell for 100 in the penultimate over before tea -- his third Test hundred and second successive -- as Pakistan reached 206-3 after two commanding sessions of batting. Pakistan trail Bangladesh's first innings total of 233 by just 27 runs.

Ton-up Masood, Babar punish Bangladesh

At the break, Babar Azam was on 69 and with him Asad Shafiq not out on nought. Masood and Azam carried Pakistan from 95-2 at lunch with a dominating 112-run third wicket stand after Bangladesh spurned a good chance to break the partnership at the outset. Azam, when on two, was dropped by Ebadot Hossain off Taijul Islam at long-off and that cost Bangladesh dearly as they failed to build on dismissals of opener Abid Ali (nought) and skipper Azhar Ali (34) in the first session.

Masood -- who was finally bowled out by Islam -- reached his hundred by hooking pacer Rubel Hossain for his 12th boundary. He reached three figures off 157 balls in 226 minutes of batting. The only other successful bowler was paceman Abu Jayed who took 2-35. Since his dropped catch Azam batted beautifully, having so far knocked ten boundaries.

When Pakistan started their innings in the morning all focus was on Abid, who scored two hundreds in his first two Tests against Sri Lanka in December last year. Another hundred would have equalled Indian player Mohammad Azharuddin's unique record -- three successive centuries in his first three Tests -- but Abid fell far short when he was dismissed without scoring. He edged a short and wide delivery from Jayed into the hands of wicketkeeper Liton Das and trudged off to the pavilion heartbroken. Azhar added 91 runs for the second wicket with Masood and looked set for a big score until he miscued a drive off Jayed and was caught by Najmul Hossain Shanto in the slip. Azhar's attractive 34 included four boundaries.