Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won his second successive toss and elected to field against an embattled Pakistan in the second cricket test on Saturday.
The first day of the test match was washed out due to persistent rain at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday before the weather cleared up on the second day.
Pakistan was in early trouble when Taskin Ahmed had Abdullah Shafique clean-bowled in the first over off a delivery that swung back into the right-hander.
Bangladesh is chasing a rare away win in a bilateral test series as it leads the two-match series 1-0 after it notched a historic 10-wicket win at the same venue last week.
Pakistan made two bowling changes and brought in specialist spinner Abrar Ahmed in place of struggling Shaheen Shah Afridi. In a surprise move Pakistan rested new-ball bowler Naseem Shah and included left-arm fast bowler Mir Hamza on another green-top wicket.
“It’s a four-day game now and we have to play our best cricket,” said Pakistan captain Shan Masood, who has lost four successive test matches since being elevated as skipper last year. “We’ve played the extra spinner just to see if we can get some help and I think Abrar offers something different.”
Bangladesh brought in fast bowler Taskin Ahmed after Shoriful Islam was ruled out for the decisive test of the two-match series due to groin injury.
“Looks little a bit of moisture on the wicket and it will help our seamers,” Shanto said at the toss. “We have played very good cricket, but that is past now. We are not looking ahead of the test match… (and) just try to follow our processes.”
Lineups:
Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (captain), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Rizwan, Abrar Ahmed, Mir Hamza, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali.
Bangladesh: Shadman Islam, Zakir Hasan, Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mominul Islam, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana.