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KHULNA. — Zimbabwe’s bowlers struggled to reprise the discipline they had shown on the opening day and a Tamim Iqbal century and a stroke-filled ton by Shakib al Hasan put Bangladesh in a strong position yesterday.
To their credit, the visitors found way to ensure that they would still have something to fight for and, in reply to a massive 433, were 53-1 at the close, the unfortunate Sikandar Raza having been perished to a reviewed umpire’s call.
The pitch had nothing for the Zimbabwean bowlers and the onus was now on their batsmen to combat an immense amount of pressure.
Hamilton Masakadza and debutant opener Brian Chari had to face variation in bounce and the odd ball turning, but were able to take their side to stumps with one batsman down.
Taijul Islam, fresh from an eight-wicket haul, was handed the new ball and derived just enough turn to make the arm ball a threat.
One of those sliders thudded into Sikandar Raza’s pads.
It had looked marginal and the batsman had a right to opt for a review.
However, the original call of umpire Billy Bowden was upheld when HawkEye revealed the ball would have tickled leg stump.
Zimbabwe’s best period of play on the second day was when they strung a ten-over spell after lunch that produced only six runs and a wicket.
Tinashe Panyangara and Tendai Chatara whittled down the percentage of loose balls.
A tight ring of fielders on either side of the batsman limited the chances of rotating the strike. Shakib attempted to take a single, only for Raza to swoop in from cover and run Mushfiqur Rahim out.
The Bangladesh captain had raced to 11 off 5 balls before lunch, but could not find a run in the next 31 balls before he was caught short of his ground.
Zimbabwe would have been desperate to extend that stranglehold, especially with Shakib looking rather anxious.
He had been the primary reason for Bangladesh whisking 123 runs in the first 30 overs of the day.
But stuck in the nineties, he preferred caution. Perhaps excessively so, but his last century was in 2011. He did not want that drought to stretch.
An on-drive against Panyangara took him to the landmark, after which Bangladesh refused to be bogged down.
The three overs after drinks in the post-lunch session were carted for 26 runs. Tired bowlers, a helpless pitch and the total ballooning towards 400 meant Shakib becoming Malcolm Waller’s maiden Test wicket barely made a dent.
The tail came in with a licence, which Taijul Islam used as he survived a chance and demoralised Zimbabwe further during a 43-run eighth wicket stand with Shahadat Hossain.
There were barely any chances in the morning though, and when the breakthrough did come — a mistimed drive from Tamim found gully with lunch only 2.3 overs away to end a 132-run stand — Zimbabwe would have felt relieved more than anything.
Their bowlers had been able to strangle Bangladesh on the first day, so much that Elton Chigumbura believed honours had been even.
There had only been 18 fours on day one, one session’s play yesterday produced 13, and three sixes.
It was almost as if Bangladesh were telling the opposition they could have upped the ante any time they wished, but had chosen not to.
Brendan Taylor saw nothing in the pitch to encourage the seamers.
He resorted to the part-time spinners to lull a mistake from the batsmen. Bangladesh did display a greater inclination to hit out and enjoyed success quite regularly. M’shangwe’s legbreaks finally made an appearance after 17 overs of play.
He had better control of his flight later in the day and picked up the final Bangladesh wicket with a googly. — Cricinfo.
Online Reporter