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Late wickets hand Bangladesh control on fluctuating opening day

01:53PM Sun 27 Aug, 2017

Bangladesh seemingly put their fortune on a pendulum ride to traverse between positions of strength and disarray, eventually ending up in the driver's seat at Stumps on Day 1 of the opening Test against Australia. From being three down for peanuts on the board, the hosts recovered strongly with Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan striking fifties. However, Nathan Lyon and Ashton Agar pulled things back to put Australia back on top. By the end of the day, the final twist in the tale came through with the hosts striking thrice to edge ahead on a see-saw day. At Stumps, Australia were on 18 for 3, trailing by 242 runs.
Taking a leaf out of Lyon's book of thoughts, Pat Cummins vindicated the spinner's idea that the fast men enjoy more authority than expected in the subcontinental conditions. Cummins struck thrice inside four overs to leave the hosts strangled on 10 for 3, before the milestone men - Tamim and Shakib - playing in their 50th Test got together in a brilliant rearguard partnership. During the course of the 155-run stand where the duo cut flashily, shimmied down the wicket and took on the spinners, they put Bangladesh back in a position of strength. However, once Tamim was out for 71 after Lunch, Shakib didn't last long either, being dismissed for 84.
Despite having lost the experienced pair in the second session, Bangladesh were safely placed, having scored 98 runs through the afternoon. Mushfiqur Rahim, who came out to bat in the final session with Nasir Hossain, fell prey to Agar with a delivery straightening after pitching. Although, the skipper went for the review, it was a foregone conclusion that the ball was hitting the stumps. Nasir displayed his flair with a couple of aerial shots, either side of the rain break, which kept the players off the field for just over 30 minutes.
Mehidy Hasan was unfortunate to not have a review as the ball lobbed off his pads to the close in fielder. By this time, Bangladesh's slump had begun and Nasir's wicket which came a couple of overs later only added to the woes. Lyon successfully reviewed an LBW shout to send the attacking batsman back and Agar brought out an ugly heave from Shafiul Islam to end the hosts' misery on 260, having slipped from 165 for 3 at one point of time.
Nine overs of batting towards the end of the day was always going to be tricky. Bangladesh had their plans in place, opening the attack with Mehidy and introducing Shakib in the fifth over itself. The spin trap worked wonders almost immediately as Mehidy caught David Warner on the backfoot, only to be reprieved by a review which clearly showed a big inside edge. However, the opening batsman fell the next ball to a similar delivery to depart for only 8.
Having earned a chance after long, Usman Khawaja fluffed the opportunity by dashing down the wicket for a non-existent single. Despite a poor throw from Mushfiqur, Soumya Sarkar leaped forward to collect it and break the stumps, beating a diving Khawaja to the crease. Five deliveries later, the nightwatchman Lyon missed a straightforward ball from Shakib to trapped in front. Matt Renshaw and skipper Steven Smith managed to keep the remaining two overs out to go into Stumps on a precarious 18 for 3.