Saud Shakeel defends declaration timing with Rizwan unbeaten on 171

Pakistan's opening Test against Bangladesh began with a challenging start, but the team rebounded strongly on the first day, powered by Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan's centuries, propelling them to a commanding first innings total of 448/6.

Saud departed after scoring 141 runs, while Rizwan remained unbeaten on 171 as Pakistan captain Shan Masood decided to declare the innings. However, the timing of this decision sparked debate among fans and experts, with many questioning whether Rizwan could have been allowed to reach a double century.

After the innings, Pakistan vice-captain Shakeel addressed queries about the declaration timing, revealing that Rizwan had been informed about it an hour beforehand.

"As far as Rizwan bhai's double century is concerned, I don't think the decision to declare was rushed," Shakeel explained. "Rizwan bhai was informed about an hour before that we would be declaring at this point. He knew our target was to approach 450 runs before declaring."

On the second day, Pakistan struggled to make breakthroughs, failing to dismiss any Bangladeshi batsmen in the 12 overs bowled.

Bangladesh's opening pair, Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan, ended the day unbeaten with scores of 12 and 11 respectively, with the team's total at 27/0 by stumps.