Bangladesh were comfortably placed with a 272-run second innings lead at stumps of day three of the second Test against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. Robiul Islam’s five-for early in the day was followed by fifties from Shakib al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, as the Tigers were 163-5 in their second innings yesterday.
The right-arm quickie once again led the visitors’ bowling as he claimed his consecutive five-wicket haul in the series to keep the Tigers in the hunt. Off-spinning sensation Sohag Gazi also bagged four wickets which helped Bangladesh dismiss the hosts for 282 runs and take a healthy 109-run first innings lead.
Resuming the day on 45, Elton Chigumbura notched up his fifty in no time before he made sure Zimbabwe were safely past the follow-on mark. After overnight batsman Malcolm Waller was dismissed by Sohag early in the day, the right-hander Chigumbura added a valuable 86 runs in the sixth wicket with Richmond Mutumbami (42).
The Tigers were in full control of the match, but once again some bizarre decisions by umpires Tony Hill and Ian Gould in early second innings brought the hosts back in the game.
The visitors were stunned to see opener Tamim Iqbal walk off in frustration in the sixth over after the south paw was given caught-behind off Shingi Masakadza by Hill. Replays showed that the left-handed batsman missed the rising delivery by a fair margin and it was the sound of the bat hitting the pad that convinced the umpire.
Shingi struck in his next over to remove Jahurul Islam, which was followed by another blunder from the umpires in the subsequent over.
Gould raised his finger to a half-hearted leg-before appeal against Mohammed Ashraful which left the Tigers struggling at 18-3. It was a full Kyle Jarvis delivery that was clearly going down the leg.
Mominul Haque and Shakib came to the rescue with a 47-run fourth wicket partnership before Shingi claimed his third victim of the day. After resisting continuous short deliveries, Mominul (29) finally edged one to Hamilton Masakadza at slips.
The responsibilities were once again on the shoulders of the two most dependable batters, Shakib and Mushfiq. The duo added 84 runs for the fourth wicket to bring Bangladesh out of the debacle before Shakib repeated his first innings dismissal.
Soon after registering his second fifty of the match, he lost his composure and walked out of the crease only to see his wild swing carry an edge to the wicket-keeper off part-timer Hamilton.
Bangladesh skipper Mushfiq, however, kept his cool to remain unbeaten on 50 runs while Nasir Hossain was not out on six.
