Bangladesh bowlers off the mark while building pressure

It would be harsh to expect a bowling attack to replicate a strong performance - against a side ranked five places above them - from the previous game, so the Bangladesh side eking out seven wickets on the third day in Chittagong can still be rated as a decent performance. Mustafizur Rahman and Mehedy Hasan finished the day on three wickets each while Shakib Al Hasan turned up with a tidy performance.

Taijul Islam had his moment too, but all four frontline bowlers would still be expected to be more consistent with tighter lines, better lengths, better field plans and avoid the inclination towards finding the money shot from the batsmen too often, to pick wickets.

Shakib was neat in his 30 overs in the first innings this time, ensuring the right-handed batsmen played most of his deliveries. Ashton Agar got a really good one from Shakib that turned a long way and hit the stumps. When he tried a similar length for Warner, it didn't yield the same result as the more accomplished batsman seemed to pick the ball early.

Mehidy bowled 60 out of 67 balls around the wicket to Warner, keeping him quiet but there was probably too much hope on a delivery on the stumps keeping low and nailing him. That didn't happen as the batsman was far too aware and was seeing the ball till the last moment.

Taijul was also underused in this innings, perhaps because Mushfiqur Rahim felt that he was leaking runs far too quickly while the other two spinners were doing the opposite. To the left-handers, he was also trying hard to bowl the one that skids through or breaks through their defences. Against right-handers, there were a few times he strayed down the leg side and was too full at times.

Mustafizur bowled at a fair clip on the third day and was finding his groove at times, but again, the focus seemed to waver. By his own admission, he bowled four good balls in an over and two went "here and there".

Perhaps, the bowling attack was also taken aback by Warner's reticence to bat at a much slower pace; he was comfortable picking a lot of singles. Peter Handscomb, meanwhile, was allowed to play far too many times towards mid-on and midwicket. It did not always happen with success but the pace of the pitch or the lack of responsiveness didn't help the bowlers. At the end of the second day, Nasir Hossain had mentioned that the ball wasn't turning when it pitched in line with the stumps, and was only deviating off the rough.

The bowlers also, on too many occasions, let Mushfiqur fall back on a defensive field setting whenever the Australians looked settled, even if it was one of the tailenders batting. There were gaps left in the slips too, which gave the suggestion that they were attacking half-heartedly. There were reasons for Mushfiqur to do so: the pitch was quite unresponsive and the bowlers weren't as accurate as they were in Dhaka or even during the last two home Tests against England last year.

In that series, both England and Bangladesh had lauded the Chittagong pitch for being result-oriented. There was uneven bounce but it offered a lot of turn for the spinners. Bangladesh have taken more than 100 overs to bowl out oppositions here on only four occasions in the past. The pitch is slightly on the slower side, so a bowler was required to be more patient. Nathan Lyon, for example, didn't get much turn but got his seven wickets through his disciplined line and length which played on the Bangladesh batsmen's patience.

But the Bangladesh bowlers were slightly behind Lyon's effort, taking a lot longer to knock off the Australian batsmen. Perhaps a lot more importance on building pressure with dot balls, better field placements and tighter lines and lengths would have helped more than the intention to go for the magic ball far too often.