“Mushfiq brother is a very dedicated person,” Mominul said after the third day. “Whatever I will say about him, it will not be enough. He plays very differently from the rest of us. He hits every ball with great care. This shows his tremendous experience. Watching him bat is a lesson in how he manages the innings with the rest of us.”

As pleasing as Mushfiqur’s milestones were the partnerships that Bangladesh formed in this Test after the team had struggled with the bat over the last twelve months.

When Mushfiqur came in to bat on the second morning, Bangladesh’s 147 for 3 was reminiscent of their problems over the past 12 months: a good start followed by a series of wickets. Mushfiqur had missed Bangladesh’s last Test series against Sri Lanka, in which they had only passed 200 once.

Mominul believes Mushfiqur’s arrival at the crease affected the way Shadman Islam played his innings. Shadman was on 57 off 132 at the crease when Mushfiqur came in. He soon picked up a gear, scoring 36 off his last 51 balls at the crease. He had reached a point in his innings where he was comfortable unleashing his drives and cuts and Mushfiqur’s solidity at the other end must have helped him break free.

“When I came out, (Mushfiqur) immediately assessed the situation to make sure there was not too much trouble from that point on,” Mominul said. “He must have said something to Shadman because soon after Mushfiq arrived at the crease, he started accelerating. He played an important role.”

Shadman was out on 93 after adding 52 for the fourth wicket with Mushfiqur. It was a crucial innings for the left-hander, who will be looking to cement his place after returning to the side as a replacement for the injured Mahmudul Hasan Joy.

Bangladesh then lost Shadman and Shakib Al Hasan in quick succession either side of the tea break. Pakistan perhaps thought the game was in their hands after Shakib’s wicket, especially as the following batsman, Litton Das, had not had a good few months. Litton had scored just one fifty in his last 29 international innings across all formats and had even been dropped from the ODI team once.

Now, however, he marched on and played with purpose, initially with rotation shots before taking on Naseem Shah late on the third night. He took 18 runs from an over, including a pulled six where the ball landed outside the stadium. Mushfiqur and Litton scored 114 runs for the sixth wicket.

When Litton was out on the fourth morning, Bangladesh were still trailing Pakistan by 116 runs. The home team may have sensed a chance, but Bangladesh had a cricketer in the No. 8 who had come a long way since his early days as an inexperienced player.

Mehidy can now play as a batsman in the ODI side and has enough experience in Tests to be considered an all-rounder. Bangladesh see him as more than just the last line of defence at No. 8 and he was just the right batsman at the other end for Mushfiqur. They made life difficult for the Pakistani bowlers, scoring 196 runs, a Bangladeshi record for the seventh wicket.

At the end of the fourth day, Mehidy gave an insight into Mushfiqur’s calming effect on his partners.

“I was quite nervous about the wicket when I reached the line,” he said. “Mushfiq brother really helped me. He gave me a briefing on the wicket and told me to make sure I play a few balls. I will get used to the pace. I liked the wicket. I started rotating the strike. I think I played 160-170 balls but that was only possible because I was batting with Mushfiq. brother. We were also the last recognised pair. We only had bowlers left. My aim was to bat as long as Mushfiq brother was at bat.”

Not surprisingly, however, it was Mushfiqur who led this batting resurgence and set an example of how to build partnerships, and in doing so, may have laid out a blueprint for Bangladesh’s future successes.