Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar completed his 100 wickets in test cricket Saturday as Pakistan skittled out Bangladesh for 96 in the second innings and eyed early victory on the fourth day of the second test at Arbab Niaz Stadium.
It left Pakistan with a modest target of 163 runs to win first home series in five years and at lunch it was 36 without loss. Mohammad Hafeez did the bulk of the scoring and was batting on 29 while Taufeeq Umer was not out on 6.
Bangladesh made a healthy 361 in its first innings and got a lead for the first time in its brief three-year test history when it restricted Pakistan to 295.
Akhtar, who termed the wicket as "dead" after getting six wickets through sheer pace in the first innings, added another four for 30 to get career-best match figures of 10-80 in his 27th test match. He became the 11th Pakistani to achieve the landmark and surpassed his previous best match figures of 8-72 against Australia at Colombo last year. Resuming at a precarious 52 for four, Bangladesh could only resist just over an hour on the fourth morning.
Akhtar started the rot when he had Razin Saleh and Khaled Mashud leg before off of lightning deliveries while Khaled Mahmud played too much across to leg-spinner Danish Kaneria's straight delivery and was also adjudged leg before. Alok Kapali, who became first Bangladesh bowler to get hat-trick Friday, was only one of the three players to cross the double figure mark with 16 before he edged to Rashid Latif in seamer Shabbir Ahmad's first over of the day.
Bangladesh was in danger to getting dismissed before crossing its lowest innings total of 87 runs -- made against West Indies at Dhaka last year. But Mashrafe Bin Murtaza hit two boundaries in his 14 runs to take his team pass the 90-run mark.
Umer Gul, the third Pakistan seamer, then cleaned up the last two wickets.
RSS