Bangladesh has bowled reasonably well in the ongoing series, and that trend continued on the second day of the second Test match at Harare Sports Club yesterday. After the batsmen posted 391, it was the bowlers’ turn, and with seamer Rabiul Islam leading the way, they cut Zimbabwe down to 158-4 by stumps.
The Tigers resumed at 300-6 at the start of the day, and Nasir Hossain and Ziaur Rahman continued the good work from day one. Nasir was the principle figure in Bangladesh adding another 91 runs. He scored 77 from 103 balls and added 33 for the seventh wicket with Zia before adding another 55 for the eight wicket with Sohag Gazi.
In all, the right hander struck 11 boundaries and his positive approach against the second new ball was impressive. He was eventually bowled around his legs by Graeme Cremer. Gazi too showed fighting spirit in striking a six and a four in his 21, while last man Rabiul struck 24 off 19 to remain unbeaten at the end.
Seamers Rabiul and Sajedul kept the Zimbabwean openers on the back foot from the very first over.
The continuous noise by the visitors in the field gave some extra boost to the bowlers and Rabiul got the first breakthrough in the 10th over. Chakabva, who had been dropped on 4 by keeper Mushfiqur, fell to Rabiul for 12. Rabiul followed up by dismissing the other opener, Vusi Sibanda, in the next over.
The fall of wickets brought Zimbabawe skipper Branden Taylor to the middle. The hero of the first test was kept in check this time, as Bangladesh seemed to have done their homework. Taylor eventually holed out at deep mid-wicket to a tossed up ball from Gazi, for 36 runs. He had put on 52 with Malcolm Waller.
With Zimbabwe looking in a spot of bother at 97/4, Chigumbura came in with an inspiring knock off 45 to pull their innings together. The unbeaten partnership of 61 between Chigumbura and Waller helped Zimbabwe come back in the match.
The hosts will look to prolong the partnership as much as possible the next morning, while Bangladesh will be relying on Robiul to get an early break through. With Shakib back into bowling full time Bangladesh will be looking forward to finish the Zimbabwe innings as soon as possible.
