Left-handed batter Zakir Hasan demonstrated his remarkable prowess as he hit a century on his debut in the ongoing Test against India in Chattogram, marking an outstanding start to his career in the international arena.  Despite his brilliant century, Bangladesh are still in dire straits. They must either bat out the entirety of the fifth day with only four wickets remaining, or score 241 runs more to register an improbable victory. At the end of day four, Bangladesh were batting at 272 for six, with Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz not out for 40 and 9, respectively.  Najmul Hossain Shanto and Zakir put together an impressive opening stand of more than 100 runs, as they batted through the entire morning session in Chattogram and made India's bowlers toil. Shanto, who suffered a golden duck in the first innings, scored 67 this time. India got the first breakthrough when Umesh Yadav removed Shanto. After Shanto’s dismissal, Bangladesh lost Yasir Ali quickly. He played only 12 balls to score five runs.  Read more: Bangladesh tighten grip on Ctg Test Both Liton Das and Mushfqiur Rahim got off to good start, but both failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Liton scored 19 runs off 59 balls before losing his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav, while Mushfiqur made 20 runs off 50 balls before being bowled out by Axar Patel. Before Mushfiqur’s dismissal, Zakir had scored a remarkable century off of 224 balls, becoming only the fourth Bangladeshi after Aminul Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, and Abul Hasan to register a century on debut. He faced 269 deliveries, second only to Javed Omar's 306, making him the second-most resilient opener in the Test debut for Bangladesh.  On the day of Zakir’s debut in Test cricket, Axar was India’s best bowler taking three wickets for 50 runs. Umesh and Ravichandran Ashwin scalped one wicket each for them.  Earlier, India scored 404 in the first innings of the match after winning the toss, with Cheteshwar Pujara contributing a magnificent 90. Taijul Islam and Mehdiy both picked up four wickets each in the process. Read more: Ctg test: Bangladesh declare ensuring a 68-run lead Bangladesh responded with a meagre total of 150, with Kuldeep destroying their batting line-up with a five-wicket haul. India then piled on 258 for two and declared their second innings, setting up a massive lead of 512 runs.   

India produced a battling performance in their first innings of the Chattogram Test, ending up with 404 runs all out. Cheteshwar Pujara showcased his mettle with a resilient 90 off 203 balls, while Shreyas Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin provided much-needed support with respective fifties -- of 86 off 192 balls and 58 off 113 balls respectively. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam were the most successful bowlers for Bangladesh, taking four wickets each. The two spinners bowled the most overs, and both conceded in triple figures.  Read more: Chattogram Test: Despite Pujara's Impressive 90, Taijul Leads Bangladesh’s Fight Shubman Gill was the first man to fall, caught by Yasir Ali off Taijul Islam's bowling for 20 runs off 40 deliveries. This set the stage for a top order collapse as India lost three more wickets before posting a meagre 50 on the board. Cheteshwar Pujara stepped up to the plate and delivered a fine innings, staying resolute on the crease for 203 balls before he was bowled by Taijul Islam for 90 runs. Virat Kohli's stay was brief, as he fell LBW off Taijul Islam's bowling for 1 run off 5 balls. Rishabh Pant continued his impressive form, scoring 46 runs off 45 balls before being bowled by Mehidy. Shreyas Iyer joined in for the fifth wicket and provided much needed stability to the innings with a 86 runs off 192 balls, before being dismissed by Ebadot Hossain. Axar Patel scored 14 runs off 26 balls and was unfortunately LBW off Mehidy in the last ball of day one. Ashwin put up a fight, scoring 58 runs off 113 balls before being stumped by Nurul Hasan off Mehidy’s bowling. Kuldeep Yadav was the last man dismissed for 40 runs off 114 balls, LBW to Taijul. Read more: Bangladesh bowl first vs India, Zakir Hasan gets Test cap Umesh Yadav was the not out batsman with 15 runs off 10 balls, and Mohammed Siraj the last man dismissed with 4 runs off 3 balls, caught by Mushfiqur Rahim. The first innings of India ended after the lunch break of day two with a total of 404 runs all out in 133.5 overs.   Pujara was the top scorer for India with 90 runs off 203 balls, with 11 fours. Rishabh was the quickest with a strike rate of 102.22, hitting 6 fours and 2 sixes in his 45-ball stay.  Mehidy was the most successful bowler, conceding 112 runs off 31.5 overs and taking 4 wickets. Taijul was next in line with 133 runs conceded off 46 overs and 4 wickets.  After the Chattogram Test, both the teams will move to Dhaka for the second and final Test of the series starting on December 22nd. 

With both Mushfiqur Rahim and Liton Das cementing their place at the crease, Bangladesh tightened their grip on the Chattogram Test against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. At lunch of day four, Bangladesh were batting at 385 for three with 12 more runs required to pass the first innings total of 397 by Sri Lanka. Mushfiqur is unbeaten for 85 while Liton is also unbeaten for 88. For the fourth wicket, Mushfiqur and Liton have already added 165 runs. Read: Mushfiqur is first Bangladeshi to score 5,000 Test runs In the first session of day four, Bangladesh added 67 runs to the board on top of their overnight total of 318 for three. The wicket looked as fruitless at it was in the last session of day three. Sri Lankan bowlers tried in many ways to dismantle the partnership of Mushfiqur and Liton but they eventually failed to do so in the first session of day four. The match looks out of the control of Sri Lanka. Read: South Africa’s Hamza gets 9-month ban for doping offense Earlier, Sri Lanka posted 397 in their first innings riding on an outstanding 199 by Angelow Mathews. Along with him, Kusal Mendis and Dinesh Chandimal hit a fifty each. For Bangladesh, Nayeem Hasan, the right-arm spinner, bagged six wickets conceding 105 runs — his best in the format. Shakib Al Hasan bagged three while Taijul Islam took one wicket.  

Bangladesh ended up on 330 being all out in 114.4 overs in their first innings of the Chattogram Test after Hasan Ali registered a five-for in the first session of day two on Saturday at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.  Right before the launch break, Hassan bagged two wickets in two balls to wrap up Bangladesh in 330. In the first session of day two alone, Bangladesh lost six wickets and four of them went to Hasan. It was his sixth five-wicket haul in Tests. Bangladesh ended the day one at 253 with Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim were unbeaten respectively at 113 and 82. Liton could add only one run before falling in the second over of day two while Mushfiqur ended up on 91.  READ: BAN vs PAK 1st Test 2021: First day shows hope for Bangladesh Right after Liton’s dismissal, the debutant Yasir Ali also went back to the dressing room adding only four in 19 balls.  These two early wickets may have inspired Mushfiqur to stagnate himself and go slowly. But he was removed by Faheem Ashraf. The delivery was off stump, Mushfqiur went to push it forward, but the ball touched his bat before going to the wicketkeeper. Mushfiqur went for a review which showed a clear spike.  Mehidy Hasan Miraz added some crucial runs— 38 off 68 balls with six fours. But he remained unbeaten as he did not get enough assistance from the tailenders.  READ: Bangladesh Women's Cricket: Success Stories and How can they Improve? For Pakistan, Hasan bagged five conceding 51 runs, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Faheem scalped two wickets each.