Nasim shows the way for struggling Pakistan batsmen

In only his second day in ODI cricket, Saad Nasim played an innings his team needed. Pit his unbeaten 77 against the six batsmen above him in the Pakistan line-up, five of whom are more experienced than him, and it becomes easier to see why.

Pakistan's top and middle-order stumble very nearly turned into a freefall at 77 for 5 in the 22nd over before Nasim helped them regain some ground with two sizable partnerships. While the unbroken 85-run seventh-wicket stand was dominated by Wahab Riaz, the 77-run sixth-wicket stand with Haris Sohail was where Nasim turned a corner.

He started off with a boundary off a poor Shakib Al Hasan delivery before both he and Sohail went into a shell, batting out 10.3 overs without a boundary. The pair tried to feel their way into the innings. Sohail is slightly more experienced at this level than Nasim but he hardly looked in touch. While Sohail struggled to find anything more than a single on most occasions, Nasim broke the boundary drought and got the Pakistan innings back on its feet.

He opened up in Mashrafe's first over in his second spell and struck the innings' first six, over bowler Arafat Sunny's head. He struck two more fours in the batting Powerplay and just one in the last ten overs, but by then it was Riaz who was doing much of the hitting.

There is a bit of brazenness about Nasim's batting; he doesn't look to care too much about how he looks while batting. There were deliveries when he looked ungainly on the front foot. He would force a ball to long-on for a single, and not care much about how it had gone that far. Perhaps this attitude could help through his career, and something that many of his colleagues could do with during this series.

Sohail batted 61 deliveries for his 44 but was at the crease for 30 overs. To get strike only for one-third of the time spent at the crease means that the batsmen at the other end hardly rotated the strike. They played out a lot more dot balls compared to the first game, which was more due to the control shown by the Bangladesh spinners in the middle overs.

Sohail and Nasim got together at a time when the spinners were in control of the game. Shakib was bowling with two slips and a short leg in place. He took the wicket of Azhar Ali after the Pakistan captain had gone through eight overs without any boundary and generally staying more conservative against spin. He had scored 10 off 19 deliveries from Nasir Hossain and Sunny before he fell to his first ball from Shakib, trying to reverse-sweep.

What was more frustrating perhaps was the way Mohammad Hafeez and Fawad Alam approached spin. Both fell for ducks off six balls each and paid the price for hanging back the moment they saw spin. Hafeez got out the first time he faced Sunny, missing an arm-ball after having hardly looked to play the ball towards the on side with any solidity. Fawad missed one from Nasir that came in with the arm.

Shakib placed a short leg and brought an additional slip for Mohammad Rizwan, who had made 67 on debut last game. Rizwan lasted 22 balls before missing another ball that moved in slightly from an off-stump line. He was adjudged leg-before, but Rizwan didn't call for a review. Pakistan ultimately never used their only review of the innings. It was how their batting has been during the first two games: unsure and struggling.