Younis, Shafiq indulge themselves on wicketless morning

Bangladesh's Chittagong nightmare continued for the third successive day, as Younis Khan and Asad Shafiq prospered with contrasting degrees of assurance against moderately spirited bowling, let down by poor fielding. Both batsmen survived chances that Bangladesh could ill afford as the lead neared 400, but Younis' 19th Test ton was a largely flawless effort. Bangladesh found the spirit to expose Shafiq's frailties against the short ball, but were too sloppy to make him pay for it.

It took Younis only three balls in the morning to get his landmark out of the way, when he glanced Shahadat Hossain through fine-leg for four. Shahadat promptly offered him a couple of freebies - one too straight, and the other too wide - and Younis looted smooth boundaries to suggest the overnight break in play hadn't diminished his touch or appetite. Shahadat hit his straps quickly, though, and proceeded to give Shafiq a thorough working over.

Shafiq's compulsive forward press tends to leave him committed to playing at bouncers even if he isn't balanced to do so. Bangladesh were too flat to exploit that weakness on the second evening, but Shahadat summoned an extra yard of effort in his first spell today. In his second over, he whipped down a bumper that reared up quickly to catch Shafiq in an awry position, and he fended it uncomfortably off the glove. Shahadat tried the short ball again in his next over, but Shafiq managed to shuffle inside the line and work him to the leg side.

Shahadat persevered, and eventually broke Shafiq's patience with another menacing bouncer, eliciting the top edge off a hook shot. The ball swirled towards Rubel Hossain at fine leg, who made an apology of an effort running in. Shahadat applauded the effort, and it wasn't clear if he was being sarcastic or genuine. His lively opening spell ended with that over, and Shafiq breathed easy to complete his half-century.

Rubel replaced him, and also worked up impressive speeds - at times touching 145 kph - from his round the wicket angle. He set up a leg trap consisting of short midwicket, silly mid-on and deep backward square leg, and sent down a raft of bouncers. The plan worked, as Younis pulled without control on two occasions. The first top-edge spiralled towards Shahadat at fine-leg, who returned the favour to Rubel by backing out of a tough chance. The second one looped straight towards deep midwicket, and Bangladesh surprised themselves by holding onto it, but it was a no-ball - Rubel's 75th at the highest level.

Bangladesh had messed up their best chances of making breaches, and didn't look like getting a wicket through the rest of the session. Shafiq creamed a tiring Rubel square before drilling him straight for fours, forcing Mushfiqur Rahim to fall back on spin. Surprisingly, the slow bowlers found none of the grip and bite they had managed on the second day. Younis strolled along with his trademark mix of shuffle-and-dabs, and lean-and-sweeps to go past 150. With lunch looming around the corner, he swivelled back to smash a Mohammad Ashraful half-tracker for six. Shafiq ushered in the break by shredding Shakib Al Hasan through the off side for boundaries, moving within sight of a century.

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