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CHITS FROM CHITTAGONG

Nur Uddin Alamgir, Chittagong
W&i. Bangladesh vice-captain ■ 'J Mashrafe Bin Mortaza rarely j allowed his partner Shahadat Hossain to take singles during the last wicket stand that saved the . -v.mr - foyow.on on the second day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday.
The ploy of Mashrafe at a crucial stage when singles were very much needed might have irritated the sparse crowd in the stands. But he did just right He kept the fans on their toes by taking sharp singles off the final delivery of an over in a desperate effort to regain the strike. Beside this, Mashrafe always tried to create scoring opportunity off the first ball of the next over.
There was a fear that the match would end on the third day as the batsmen started a procession of coming back to the dressing room, sliming the hopes for the home team.
But, when the first innings ended surpassing the follow-on mark thanks to the Bangladesh vice-captain's brilliant half-century the spectators breathed a sigh of relief saying that
"Mashrafe did right".
"If Mashrafe did not take most of the strike, Shahadat (who remained not out on 5] could have easily fallen victim to any o f the Sri Lankan strike bowlers to evaporate any hope for the Tigers to come back in the match," the were discussing at the end of the day's play.
The day's hero Mashrafe left the crease bagging 63 runs off 89 balls featuring eight fantastic boundaries and two sixes.
CAPTAIN & DEPUTY
PERFORM DUTIES
Everything was going fine for Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful from the capital to the port city.
He scored a praiseworthy 101 in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Dhaka before arriving here in Chittagong to play the final match of the series which they chase 1-0.
He grabbed the important wicket of Malinda Warnapura (63 runs off 151 balls) with the first delivery of his two overs on the first day during a crucial moment of the game.
Yesterday's Ashraful was seen confident
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enough from the beginning and his bat sparkled to bag 45 runs off 100 balls featuring five boundaries and one six which was the second highest contribution after Mashrafe's bold 63.