A patient, determined century from Kirk Edwards and a fluent innings at the other end from Marlon Samuels helped West Indies get their innings back on track in a productive morning session but like they had done on the opening day, Bangladesh hit back with late wickets to offset those gains.
Rubel Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan bowled through the first hour but were stone-walled by Edwards while Samuels, who had batted confidently towards the close on the first day, continued in similar fashion. The pair were able to pinch singles thanks to a spread-out field on the off side and received a periodic dose of bad balls - Samuels dispatched a flighted delivery from Shakib through the covers, and drove a full toss past mid-on.
Rubel was quick and sharp, and tested Edwards with a round-the-wicket line angling away from the off stump, and even ruffled him with a short ball that was top-edged for four. In unfavourable conditions, opportunities didn't come easily to the hosts and Rubel was unfortunate to not nip out a wicket.
Even more so was Nasir Hossain, who was the pick of the bowlers yesterday, turning the new ball and getting some bite. In his first over of the morning, he induced Edwards to prod at one, caused an outside edge only to watch Mushfiqur Rahim put it down. Edwards was quick to put the lapse behind him and continued to employ the approach against turn that had helped him fight through the first day; he used his feet and was committed to play through the line. Two straight boundaries off Nasir in that same over, a thump down the ground off Suhrawadi Shuvo shortly after, that brought up his second ton in his third Test, and a six over long-off bore testimony to that.
Nasir pulled one back when Samuels tried to drive forcefully past him; he dived acrobatically to his left and plucked out a sharp catch to break a threatening stand. Carlton Baugh followed soon, slashing one to slip off Shakib. And the agony for Edwards, watching from the other end, piled up when Darren Sammy trod back onto his stumps as he failed to make contact with a delivery that kept really low down the leg side. A session that was West Indies' for the bulk of its duration ended with honours even, following the pattern of the opening day.
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