The second Test between Bangladesh and Australia was a must win the game for the Australian’s, as they had already lost the first Test against the hosts.
The Australian’s had to play as a team in this Test, they needed contribution from all the players, be it bowlers or batsmen. David Warner and Nathan Lyon were the stand out performer from the series and the in particular second Test for the visitors.
But another outstanding performance in the second Test was of their young middle-order sensation Peter Handscomb.
In the scorching heat and high and humid levels in Chittagong on Day two of the Test, Handscomb came out to bat six overs before the Tea break when Australia was at 98-2. Handscomb played a crucial hand at that stage, as the Australian team required a solid partnership to guide their innings.
Handscomb played a gutsy inning at temperatures in late 30’s. The right-hander scored brilliant 82 which eventually helped Australia win the match and level the series 1-1.
He lost around nearly 4.5 kgs while batting on day two. Under high temperatures levels, Handscomb was pale and drenched in sweat throughout the innings. He struggled but, continued to bat showing the kind of attitude the young 26-year-old posses.
Handscomb recalled the gutsy innings. He said,
“It was just ridiculously hot, Even though the temperatures may have been the late 30s, which is something we’re quite used to in Australia, because it had been raining on the days leading up to the game the heat was basically coming from underneath you, coming out of the ground because the water was evaporating. I was just getting nailed heat-wise from both the ground and the sky and couldn’t get enough fluids in to make myself feel better, and then if I drunk a little bit too much, I started to feel sick. “We fielded first in both games, so already you’re pretty cooked going into your first batting innings. Just standing out there in that heat, that sun – it takes it out of you.”
Handscomb ended up scoring 64 on day two and added 127 runs on day two along with David Warner who contributed 46 runs for the partnership.
Coming in to bat on day three, Handscomb had three figures in mind, but Warner had got significantly closer to a hundred and reached 99 early on day three. To help his partner get to the milestone, Handscomb fell short of the crease and got run out.
Handscomb accepted it was completely his fault,
“Yeah, just backing up too far, completely my fault,” he said. It was one of those things. Obviously, you want to get your mate to a hundred, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s one run. It’s actually quite frustrating to get out that way because if we were just relaxed, we were going to get the single at some stage, and I didn’t really need to back up that far to get the single.”
He also rates this innings as his best innings in the sub-continent, he added,
“Basically every innings in the subcontinent so far I’ve managed to get a start bar one, It was frustrating not to go on with it more than I did. I managed to get 70 against India and 80 against Bangladesh, but I really felt in control in that innings in Chittagong, so it was going to be a good opportunity to get a subcontinent hundred.”