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Long day’s journey into night

Sports Reporter
of temperament benighted the day of Bangladesh cricket that had dawned on last
Thursday as the hosts gift-wrapped a five-wicket victory to the desperate Pakistani's tn a match marked by familiar frailty, an unfortunate accident on the third day of the first-ever SAARC cricket tournament at the Dhaka Stadium
For the local boys it was a golden opportunity to silence the cynics who were loathe to Cihem due credit for their t-amrmlng performance In the opener of the four-nation championship on Decembers.
As UI luck would have ft, the cynics had the last laugh when Bangladesh, who started the tournament on the right foot on Thursday with a seven wicket victory against Shri Lanka, came a cropper in the second match mainly because of their own faults.
True Pakistan, even without all but two of Imran Khan's Cornered Tigers' were anyday favourites against Bangladesh: yet the manner In which the local cricketers threw away the match for no Justifiable reason cast'further doubts on their ability to ever win themselves before overpowering the opponents on the field.
Bangladesh skipper Mfnhnzul Abedin Nonnu can blame his Indy h«ck for not winning th' toss h-H lo put the scddl* nr ibe -'rhi herv
It w-'i '’’in' the moment Bangladesh were asked to bat that a victory to confirm a place in the final would need extra caution and discipline tn batting, because the prospect of their opponents staying in contention depended on the fete of this match and with two good medium-pacers like Tanvlr Mehd! and Kabir Khan tn their ranks Pakistan were always likely to gum up the works of the Bangladeshi bat-^"opener Zahid Razzaque Masum kept fear at bay with some aggressive batting, as epitomised by a four off left-arm paceman Kabir Khan to open his account. The tall opener appeared to have some time and space against the Pakistani pace pair and was bent on hitting his way out against hot, unfamiliar pace.
Hts partner Nurul Abedin Nobel was always groping against the pacy Mehdi and accurate Kabir. He was all at sea, needing 21 balls to open his account. However, he soon relieved himself of the agony when a short rising delivery from Mehdi touched his hanging bat outside the off stump on Its way to Moin Khan's gloves behind the stumps.
Athar Ali. perhaps haunted by the memories of his failure agafrist Shri Lanka, considered his pads safer than his faithless bat to be leg before, offering no stroke to a Kabir Khan inswinger, for one.
Masum. another failure like Athar in the first match, was oblivious of the fact that spin had replaced spin and swung wildly at the first ball from left-arm spinner Mohammad Zahid to be palpably leg before for 23, including four hits to fence, all against the pacemen.
Skipper Nannu went on his knees to assay a pull against the spin off Nadeem Khan, the second slow left-armer in the Pak team, and Saeed Javed at midwicket did not have to move from hts position to set the Bangladeshi skipper on a trudge to the pavilion .for a 54-del1verv 26. inclusive of
two fours.
Meanwhile, Aminul Islam Bulbul who timed his paddle sweeps pretty well for 21 runs
imed catch fell on the wafting hands of Shahid Anwar at square teg. Akram hit a timely 38 off 35 balls with three hits
off 44 deliveries, had gone.
The dark, dapper batsman '••ri "lyr'd wanting In mental ri?'*— caught In two minds, whether tn pul’ go for an overhead drive he
spooned a simple catch to Aamir Bashir at mid-on off the other Aamia, right-arm slow medium Hanif operating from the Palfan end.
After Bulbul and Nannu's departure in quick succession, the pdrsy Akram Khan paired with southpaw Enamul Huq-Moni to take the score to 140 from 94. Moni.was the first unnecessary sacrifice for acceleration. lofting Nadeem Khan to Kabir at long on for 14.
If any Bangladeshi batsman showed any sense of purpose it was Akram Khan. He took eleven runs of Hanifs last over, first clipping him beautifully to the midwicket fence then smashing a huge off side drive for four and rounding off the blitzkrieg with another heave on the onside, which was cutshort Just inside the boundary, allowing the batsmen score three more runs. Sadly enough, it was too high a voltage and the fuse went off in the next over from Tanveer Mehdi, brought back for a second go from the pavilion end. A short-pitched delivery from this po-faced paceman had arrived a t shade too late for Akram's comfort In attempting a pull and the resulted mist-
to the fence.
The rest was a piece of cake for Mehdi who Just cut through the tall with cnnsumma’c ease, wilh h1s extra pace. Saiful, after having groped In the dark for sometime, was plumb in front for two. Prince lost his stump and Debashish was leg before first ball to signal the end at 159 in 41.5 overs.
Tanvlr Mehdi was first bowler in this tournament to have a haul of five wickets in a match. He finished with the excellent figures of five for 23 off 7.5 overs. Nadeem Khan bagged two for 41 and Aamir Hanif suffered some stick for his one wicket, giving away 45 runs from the stipulated quota of nine overs.
With so little a target to defend Bangladesh new ball bowlers left-armer Prince and Saiful responded wonderfully. 'Danger man' Bastt All, who seemed to be the most tn-form Pakistani batsman against India, failed to keep a turn off the hip off Prince and Mont picked up a good low catch at square-leg to send the batsman packing for a duck with the score on seven.
Saiful, breathing fire at the other end, made the crowd’ and the fielders cock-a-hoop by trapping Test batsman Zahid Fazal in front of the wicket with a venomous in-swinger that rocketed on to his pads off the wicket Fazal s departure for the second duck of the innings meant Pakistan were two for 14.
The slide continued with a hesitant Amir Hanif beaten by a Moni throw white trying to regain his crease and at 23 for 3, It looked like Bangladesh were in with a realistic chance of making a match of It.
An inscrutable decision by skipper Nannu at this stage clipped the wings of the soaring hope in Bangladeshi minds. Nannu. who had a regular seamer In Jahangir Talukdar Dulu, chose Instead to give himself a bowl with the shiny ball and in two overs allowed the Pakistani Innings to recuperate from the plague called Prince and Saiful. He was probably prompted by Salful's waywardness as the young bowler, striving for extra pace gave away some extra runs.
The rap should be taken by wicketkeeper Devaahlsh Baro-osh also whose sloppy wicket -keeping at one stage contributed to a fot of extra*.
Nannu gave up after two overs which coat him and Bangladesh 17 runs and Pakistan got right back Into ihe game. With both Prince and Saiful off the firing line, the Javed Anwar pair took their time to strike roots. The former, who played his first match yesterday, was more aggressive putting away the ball
along, white Anwar concentrated on steadying the rocking Pakistani boat with some no-nonsense batting.
Shahid Anwar, the taller of the two, broke Into a flurry of strokes before miscuing a sweep against off-spinner Bulbut and Devashtsh who had a miserable day behind the stumps gratefully accepted the catch to send the disconsolate batsman on the long walk.
Anwar played 97 balls for his innings of 65 studded with seven fours. He and Javed compiled a match-winning fourth-wickct stand of 116 off 160 balls.
Javed, who slowed down after having overtaken his senior partner, was bowled by Masum for 55 at a stage when it was almost all over. He scored his runs off 89 balls with the help of four boundaries.
Moin and Amir Bashir saw Pakistan through lo a flve-wicket victory by remaining unbeaten on five and ten respectively.
Saiful was again Bangladesh's best bowler with figures of one for 24 from six overs. A thorn tn the flesh of the batsman with hts fast, skidding deliveries, he could have finished with much better figures but for those wild wide*.
Prince bowled well although signs were clear that he was over the hill. He gave away 22 runs for hfs one wicket and had the Pakistani batsmen tn a tangle with the deliveries that angle away from right handers.
Masum and Bulbul got one wicket apiece giving away 21 ' and 24 runs.
Tanvlr Mehdi was named the man-of-the-match for his haul of five wickets by adjudicator Mainul Haq. a former Bangladesh player.
With this win Pakistan claw their way back into contention while Bangladesh, with Just one match on their hands, stand Just a theoretical chance provided they upset the formidable Indians tn their last match.
India today play Shri Lanka, who are yet to earn their first points. So far Bangladesh and Pakistan have earned two points playing two matches each, India two from one and Shri Lanka, none from their only outing.
MISHAP
An unfortunate accident resulted in three waiters of Hotel Purbani, who were in charge of catering in the field, suffering severe burns.
The accident took place when one of the waiters got synged in an explosion of the gas stove as he was trying to heat the milk for Shyam Kumar Bansal, the Indian umpire officiating yesterday's match in the makeshift catering room between the two-players' dressing rooms.The victims were immediately rushed to the hospital. Among them the conditions of Mfr Ruhul Hasan and Shahadat Khan were stated lo be critical.