Pakistan skipper Babar Azam said that Sajid khan’s spell in the first innings gave his side momentum and confidence to win the second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by innings and 8 runs in the nail-biting second Test match to complete the 0-2 whitewash in the Test series. In a match where rain played spoilsport for the majority of the time, everyone expected a draw but Pakistan displayed sensational performance to snatch a victory.
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Batting first, after winning the toss, the visitors declared their first innings on the score of 300/4 runs, and then Sajid Khan ran through Bangladesh’s batting order, taking 8/42 to bundle out the hosts for just 87 runs in their first innings.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam then enforced the follow-on on Bangladesh and they yet again bowled sensationally, reducing hosts at 147/7. However, in the final session the duo of Mehidy Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan hung in and it almost seemed that the match will draw, considering the bad light.
Skipper Babar Azam then brought himself into the attack and provided his team with a crucial breakthrough as he trapped Mahedi Hasan in LBW. After that Pakistan took two quick wickets and the match made almost every spectator standoff their seat as the visitors were only one wicket away and a draw was also on the cards with bad light ruling out the pacers from the equation.
On the other hand, with only one wicket in hand, Bangladesh needed nine more runs to effectively seal a draw as they would then have crossed the 213 run-mark, at which the visitors would have to bat again.
But Sajid Khan took his 12th wicket of the match to stun the hosts and win the match for his side.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam while talking about his maiden Test wicket said that he’s elated with that as he felt that he needed to bowl at the stage. He lauded his openers for giving them a good start and mentioned that Sajid Khan’s spell gave them the momentum and confidence to win the game.
"I felt that I needed to bowl at that stage and really happy I got that wicket (Mehidy). Our batsmen and especially openers gave us a good start and our mindset was just to dominate despite the bad weather and Sajid's spell gave us momentum and confidence to win this game," Babar Azam said.
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Babar Azam further credited ground staff for doing a great job despite rain playing a spoilsport. He added that the series win will give them a lot of confidence going ahead.
"Credit to groundstaff, they have done a really great job with all the rain around in the last few days. This series win gives us a lot of confidence and some crucial WTC points," he said.
With a 0-2 Test series win over Bangladesh, Pakistan added 12 crucial points to their World Test Championship tally.
(ANI inputs)
