Umesh spell is best I have faced in my Test career: Shakib

There is no bigger compliment for a fast bowler if one of opposition's key batsman terms his spell as "unplayable" and that's exactly what Shakib Al Hasan felt about India pacer Umesh Yadav's morning spell on day three of the one off Test here. Umesh bowled a nine over spell on a barren track in the morning where he beat Shakib, a number of times, with his pace and swing.

"There was nothing much in the pitch. Because we play in KKR, I know him (Umesh) very well. Probably, this was the best spell I have faced in my Test career. He was moving the ball both ways and some of the deliveries were unplayable.

The best I could do was to hit the deliveries that I could and the ones I couldn't, I tried not to nick it. I was lucky that I survived that spell," said Shakib, who made a counter-attacking 82 in Bangladesh's 303 for 6. The all-rounder termed the wicket as a good one to bat on and save one unplayable spell from Umesh, nothing much was happening. Elaborating how he coped with Umesh's deliveries, he said: "I played with soft hands and made sure that I didn't nick it."

Shakib also agreed that spinners were not getting much help from the wicket. On match situation, Shakib said that India still have their nose ahead in this game. Agencies