Whether the players of the Bangladesh have watched the Bollywood classic Hera Pheri remains unknown, but they certainly recreated one of its iconic lines while mercilessly sledging Mohammad Rizwan during Day 4 of the ongoing second Test in Sylhet.
The incident took place during the 72nd over of Pakistan’s final innings when Rizwan was seen having a chat with the on-field umpire. While the stump mic did not capture the context of the conversation, it did pick up the Bangladesh players brutally mocking the wicketkeeper-batter, accusing him of “overacting” and joking that he should be docked “50 paise” for it.
“For overacting, we’ll dock 50 paise. Everyone knows it. Now that he has scored 50, he has cemented his place in the team, that’s why he is doing all this,” the players could repeatedly be heard saying on the stump mic.
Rizwan, however, showed little reaction as he calmly walked up to his batting partner Salman Ali Agha after finishing the chat with the umpire.
The 134-run stand between Rizwan and Agha for the sixth wicket had begun to frustrate the Bangladesh camp, but left-arm spinner Taijul Islam eventually broke through by breaching Agha’s defence with a slider. An over later, he returned to dismiss Hasan Ali as well, swinging the momentum firmly back in Bangladesh’s favour.
Rizwan, unbeaten on 75, remains Pakistan’s final hope in the second Test, with the visitors still trailing by 121 runs with only three wickets in hand.
Pakistan had already lost the opening Test and are now staring at an embarrassing 0-2 whitewash in Bangladesh.
Fast bowler Nahid Rana earlier claimed 2/58 with raw pace that troubled Pakistan throughout the day. He gave Bangladesh the first breakthrough after dismissing Abdullah Fazal for six, with the batter steering a short ball to gully. Soon after, off-spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz trapped Azan Awais lbw for 21 to put Bangladesh firmly in control.
However, Shan Masood and Babar Azam resisted well, negotiating Nahid’s pace and keeping the scoreboard moving. Their 91-run stand ended when Taijul strangled Babar down the leg side for 47.
Saud Shakeel then edged a sharp Nahid delivery behind before Taijul trapped Masood at short leg, leaving Pakistan struggling at 162/6.
Although Rizwan and Agha briefly revived Pakistan’s hopes, Taijul’s late strikes once again pushed Bangladesh closer to a second successive series sweep over Pakistan.
