Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy struck a fluent half-century after the bowlers dominated to put Bangladesh firmly in command of the second Test against Pakistan on Sunday.

Bangladesh, who lead the two-match series 1-0, closed day two on 110-3 in their second innings, leading by 156 runs in Sylhet.

Joy, who fell for a duck in the first innings, responded with 52 off 64 balls before falling to pace bowler Mohammad Abbas.

Tanzid Hasan fell cheaply for four off quick bowler Khurram Shahzad, who later took down Mominul Haque for 30 in the final over of the day, while captain Najmul Hossain Shanto remained unbeaten on 13.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and speedster Nahid Rana took three wickets each to bowl Pakistan out for 232, giving Bangladesh a 46-run first innings lead.

Babar Azam’s 68, which included 10 fours, was the only significant resistance from the visitors.

Pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed removed overnight openers Abdullah Fazal and Azan Awais early and spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz dismissed skipper Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel before lunch.

Rana and Taijul shared the remaining six wickets in the afternoon session.

Pakistan’s Azam acknowledged the damage done by his dismissal.

“The turning point is my wicket and Salman Ali Agha’s wicket — after that we did not build any partnerships. These two dismissals changed the momentum,” said Azam.

Rana, who has now dismissed Azam three times in three Test matches, said any opposition hostility toward him would be at their own peril.

“I don’t know if they will think twice about bowling bouncers at me but I can say this much — if anyone bounces me, I will not let them off easily,” the 23-year-old Rana said.

Rana was also bullish about Bangladesh’s prospects heading into day three.

“There is no specific target like 200, 250 or 300. We have a lot of time — three days still remain. We will try to bat the full day tomorrow,” he said.

Bangladesh’s dominant position was built on Litton Das’s extraordinary rescue act on Saturday.

Walking in at 106-4 — a position that deteriorated to 116-6, Litton struck 16 fours and two sixes in his 126 to steer Bangladesh to 278 all out.

India is scrambling to salvage a sinking rupee as surging oil prices linked to the Middle East conflict threaten to disrupt the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

The currency has dropped more than 5 per cent since the crisis erupted in February, extending losses from 2025 and making it Asia’s worst-performing major currency in 2026 so far.

It hit a record low of over 96 to the dollar on Friday, prompting officials to signal that halting further depreciation is a key macroeconomic priority.

India’s central bank has already poured billions of dollars to stabilise the currency, curbed speculative trading and offered a special credit line to oil importers to ease dollar demand.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also urged voluntary austerity measures to rein in dollar-guzzling imports, including cutting down on gold buying and foreign travel for a year.

But the pressure persists.

“The whole system has been disturbed,” said Dilip Parmar of stockbroker HDFC Securities, citing heavy foreign investor outflows, weaker growth prospects and elevated crude prices.

“That is the basic problem which you’re seeing replicated in the fall of the rupee,” he said, noting that it was ultimately “a function of demand and supply” with dollar demand being higher.

The rupee’s slide comes as India faces a widening current account deficit driven by costly energy imports.

The gap is likely to be over 2pc of GDP this fiscal year, more than double last year’s level and potentially the widest since 2012-13, according to Bank of America Securities estimates.

Widening deficit

At the same time, foreign investors have dumped more than $20 billion in Indian stocks since the start of the Mideast conflict, the fastest pace on record, while dollar inflows have slowed, opening the possibility of a balance-of-payments gap as large as $67-88 billion.

The 2027 fiscal year “will be our third year of a balance-of-payment deficit, which is certainly unusual,” economist Dhiraj Nim of ANZ Research told AFP.

This strain has weighed on the rupee, prompting the central bank to defend it by burning through foreign exchange reserves — now at around $697 billion, down from over $720 billion before the Middle East war.

While still covering about 11 months of imports, the decline underscores the strain.

A weaker rupee is rippling through the domestic economy.

Manufacturers and food processors, many dependent on imported raw materials priced in dollars, are seeing costs surge.

Smaller firms often lack the ability to hedge currency risks.

In Kerala’s cashew industry, which mostly imports raw nuts from Africa, the impact has been acute.

“Imports have become far more expensive for the local market,” said Rajmohan Pillai, who runs a cashew firm, adding buyers can now afford only about 90pc of last year’s volumes.

He estimates more than 80pc of processing units have shut in recent years, with rupee volatility a contributing factor.

‘Last straw’

India’s currency decline has also hit students looking to study abroad.

Education consultants say studying in the United States now costs more than one million rupees ($10,450) extra compared with a year ago.

“This is the last straw,” said Meghna Sen, a 17-year-old aspiring psychology student.

“Now we have to track (the rupee) movement to check how much we need for our grocery budgets.”

The depreciation has punctured India’s ambition to become the world’s third-largest economy.

Modi, who once criticised his predecessors over currency weakness, has seen India’s global economic ranking dented because GDP comparisons are measured in dollars.

The country has slipped behind the United Kingdom to the sixth place according to International Monetary Fund data, largely due to the rupee’s fall.

Nomura analysts warn more drastic measures may be on the anvil.

These include possible fuel price hikes, tighter controls on overseas remittances and steps to attract dollar deposits from non-resident Indians — a playbook used in past crises.

Still, economists caution that intervention can only smooth volatility, not reverse underlying pressures.

“Fundamental factors” remain to be resolved, Nim said, adding “I would not even rule out an interest rate hike which squarely targets future inflation”.

The Reserve Bank of India knows what its options are, he said. “All that remains is to see what it decides to choose.”

Australia’s Qantas was forced to divert a flight bound for the United States over a disruptive passenger, with local media reporting the man bit a flight attendant.

The flight from Melbourne was headed to Dallas on Friday when it was forced to make a stop-off in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, due to the disruptive passenger.

The man was restrained by fellow passengers, with local media including national broadcaster ABC reporting he bit a member of Qantas staff.

The man was met by local authorities on arrival and has been slapped with a no-fly ban on all Qantas planes.

“The safety of our customers and our crew is our number one priority and we have zero tolerance for disruptive or threatening behaviour on our flights,” a Qantas spokesperson told AFP on Sunday.

• Strikes on Harouf medical centre kill six, including paramedics; at least five villages targeted
• Evacuation warnings trigger another wave of displacement; civilians dismiss ceasefire as ‘meaningless’

BEIRUT: Israel launched a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Saturday, striking at least five villages and prompting a new exodus of residents, despite a 45-day extension of a fragile truce agreed to only a day earlier.

The ongoing Israeli bombardment and expanded evacuation warnings have fuelled deep scepticism about the ceasefire among the thousands of Lebanese already driven from their homes.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions, but Saturday’s strikes were preceded by an evacuation warning that covered nine villages.

The attacks have expanded in scope in recent weeks, reaching areas north of the Litani River and farther from the border. Since the truce began, the Israeli military has repeatedly issued such warnings ahead of strikes, compounding the humanitarian crisis in the south.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported strikes on villages that included one more than 50 kilometres from the border.

The Israeli military also struck at least one town near the southern city of Nabatieh that was not included in its warning. At the same time, the NNA reported a new flight of residents heading north towards the coastal city of Sidon and the capital, Beirut.

The violence came just one day after the two countries, which do not have diplomatic relations, agreed to extend a ceasefire that began on April 17 but has been marred by numerous violations.

The latest extension was brokered during negotiations in Washington between Israeli and Lebanese envoys, which followed the first direct talks in decades between the two nations last month.

Despite the ceasefire agreement, Israel continues to conduct strikes in Lebanon, and its forces are occupying territory near the border.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, regularly claims attacks on northern Israel and against the Israeli military inside southern Lebanon.

The resistance group, which opposes the negotiations, claimed an attack against Israeli troops in the Lebanese town of Khiam on Saturday, justifying the action by accusing Israel of ceasefire violations and “attacks that targeted villages in southern Lebanon.”

The human cost of the conflict continues to mount. Israeli attacks since the start of the war have killed more than 2,900 people in Lebanon, with more than 400 of those deaths occurring since the truce took effect, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel has reported the deaths of 19 soldiers in southern Lebanon since the fighting erupted.

On Friday, an Israeli strike hit the centre of the Islamic Health Committee in the southern town of Harouf, authorities said. Six people were killed in that attack, including three paramedics, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

For displaced residents, the term “truce” rings hollow.

“This is not a truce as long as Israeli attacks continue against the south and its people, with deaths, injuries, and destruction,” said Ali Salameh, 60, speaking from a school in Beirut where he has been displaced since the war began on March 2.

Others voiced their support for Hezbollah to continue its fight.

“What kind of a truce is this when they have just threatened villages and people are being displaced? Where is the state? We stand only with the resistance,” said Nawal Mezhir, who is also displaced from the south.

In stark contrast, Lebanon’s negotiating delegation in Washington on Friday welcomed the extension of the truce and the creation of a US-facilitated security track.

The delegation said the agreements “provide critical breathing space for our citizens, reinforce state institutions, and advance a political pathway toward lasting stability”.

Lebanon was dragged into the wider Middle East war on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

On Friday, an Israeli strike also hit the southern city of Tyre. An AFP correspondent at the scene saw significant destruction at a targeted site near the coastal city’s ancient ruins.

“They destroyed the entire neighbourhood,” said Ibrahim Kahwaji, a tailor who was wounded in the leg. “They are emptying the south of its population… it’s a real occupation. We want a solution.”

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026