Centuries from Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque and record partnership has put Bangladesh in the driving seat against Zimbabwe of the second and final Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Sunday. Riding on Mominul’s 161 and Mushfiqur’s unbeaten 111 the hosts posted 303 losing five wickets at stumps on day one. Mushfiqur and Mominul partnered for a record fourth-wicket stand with 266 runs. The partnership is the fourth highest by runs for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh had promised of a strong comeback going into the series saving game. The home side were on the back-foot having put on a poor show in the first Test and conceded a 151-run defeat. A poor batting display was the chief reason behind the humiliating loss in the first game and it had almost reappeared in Mirpur when Bangladesh went to bat first after winning the toss.
The Tigers lost two openers, Liton Das and Imrul Kayes, with just 16 runs on the board and the score at 26 for three as debutant Mohammad Mithun perished for a duck. Zimbabwe pacer Kyle Jarvis removed Imrul for a duck and Jarvis returned in his next over to dismiss Liton on nine after he was caught at mid-wicket.
From there, Bangladesh found relief and stability in Mominul and Mushfiqur who not only recovered the innings but took the side to a favourable position against the opponents. The centuries produced by Mominul and Mushfiqur differed in style but were of equal importance for a Bangladesh team desperate to save their reputation.
Bangladesh could have been put in more trouble if Mominul was not dropped at gully early into his innings. That however did not hold back the left-handed batsman who was the aggressor against the opponent bowlers while Mushfiqur was content to play the ball according to its merit.
Mominul reached his first fifty in eight innings and converted it to register his seventh Test hundred from 150 deliveries, just before tea. The top order batsman struck a boundary through mid-wicket in the 55th over against Sikandar Raza’s bowling to get to his hundred. This is the third time in the year he had reached the milestone in the year having scored back to back hundreds against Sri Lanka in Chittagong in January.
Early into the final session of the day, Zimbabwe dropped Mominul on 120 and this resulted in the Bangladesh batsman reaching his third 150-plus Test score. On the other end, a composed Mushfiqur paved his way to remain unbeaten, facing 231 deliveries. Mushfiqur clipped the ball to mid-wicket for a quick single and roared to his sixth Test century. The wicket-keeper batsman reached the landmark in 187 deliveries in the 76th over.
Zimbabwe made a bit of a comeback in the final hour of the day by removing Mominul in the 86th over. And then Jarvis picked his third wicket of the day by dismissing night-watchman Taijul Islam on four in the last ball of the 89th over. New batsman, captain Mahmudullah remained without a ball faced as Mushfiqur played the last six balls of the day and found four bye runs to take the total past 300 runs. The Bangladesh dressing was in all smiles with the effort as they broke the humiliating streak of not scoring more than 200 runs in eight consecutive innings.
2ND TEST, DAY 1
BANGLADESH 1ST INNINGS R B
Liton c Mavuta b Jarvis 9 35
Imrul c Chakabva b Jarvis 0 16
Mominul c Chari b Chatara 161 247
Mithun c Taylor b Jarvis 0 4
Mushfiq not out 111 231
Taijul c Chakabva b Jarvis 4 10
Mahmudullah not out 0 0
Extras (b9, lb5, w1, nb3) 18
Total (five wickets; 90 overs) 303
Fall Of Wickets
1-13 (Imrul), 2-16 (Liton), 3-26 (Mithun), 4-292 (Mominul), 5-299 (Taijul)
Bowling
Jarvis 19-5-48-3 (w1, nb1), Chatara 18-10-28-1, Tiripano 15-3-33-1(nb2), Raza 12-1-63-0, Williams 8-0-31-0, Mavuta 16-0-79-0, Masakadza 2-0-7-0
