Suburban
Bangladesh finished on 468 after Mahmudullah Riyad and Taskin Ahmed put together the second-highest ninth wicket stand in Test history.
When Ahmed missed a slog off Milton Shumba on 75, their stand ended on 191, four runs short of the 195 put on by Mark Boucher and Pat Symcox against Pakistan in 1995.
Taskin, who made a career-best 75 off 134 balls with eleven fours, walked away disappointed but Mahmudullah congratulated him for the effort. They broke the Bangladesh record of 184 runs for the ninth wicket between Mahmudullah and Abul Hasan in 2012.
Mahmudullah himself reached his career-best score, finishing on an unbeaten 150 off 278 with 17 fours and a six. He took a bit of time trusting Taskin at the other end early in the stand, but soon started to play shots.
He was particularly brutal against anything short, either blasting them through midwicket or hammering them through the covers. Of particular beauty was a well-timed cut-shot off Richard Ngarava. Taskin, meanwhile, regularly pierced the covers, at times hitting it over the fielder and at times timing it beautifully, beyond his expected ability as a lower-order batter.
He was also lucky to survive two chances. He was dropped on 32 by Shumba at second slip, while Dion Myers missed what appeared to be a simple run-out chance when Taskin was on 66.
Muzarabani finished with four wickets while Donald Tiripano and Victor Nyauchi took two each.
Bangladesh, who were wicketless on the first session, added 64 runs in 19 overs after the lunch session, further sapping the Zimbabweans’ mental and physical energy. The hosts were a stark contrast on the second day after impressing on the first day.
Mahmudullah and Taskin added 110 runs in the morning’s 24 overs to take them to 404 for 8 at lunch. It was a huge turnaround for a side that looked set for a a score in the 300s after finishing the first day on 294 for 8.
A face-off between Ahmed and Muzarabani seem to spark the Bangladesh pair. Even Mahmudullah got into an argument with Nyauchi, but seemed to have taken the confrontations positively. Ahmed hit Muzarabani for five fours throughout his morning spell. It gave Mahmudullah the signal that he doesn’t need to bother about farming the strike.
After rotating the strike for the first hour or so, he swung a six through midwicket, and then couple of fours through the covers got him to his century. Taskin reached his half-century off 69 balls.
Mahmudullah Riyad was 112 not out at lunch on Thursday as Bangladesh moved to 404-8 in 107 overs against Zimbabwe in a one-off Test at Harare Sports Club.
Batting at number eight, the 35-year-old all-rounder added 58 runs to his overnight total of 54 as the tourists took control after losing two early wickets on Wednesday with just eight runs on the scoreboard.
His century arrived off the third ball of the 100th over as he cut to deep point for four a ball that was bowled short of a length by Roy Kaia.
The highest Test innings from Mahmudullah for the Bangladeshi Tigers was 146 against New Zealand two years ago.
By lunch on the second day in Zimbabwe, he had faced 215 balls and struck the sole six so far in the Test and 13 fours.
He and Taskin Ahmed, who was playing his part with an unbeaten 52, put on 134 runs for the ninth wicket with Ebadot Hossain yet to bat.
Taskin struck eight fours off 89 balls as Bangladesh sought a second victory in five Tests this year under captain Mominul Haque.
Mahmudullah was one of the top trends on Twitter and Google in India on Thursday afternoon after the Bangladesh all-rounder struck a magnificent century.
On the first day, Liton Das’ 95 and Mominul Haque’s 70 helped Bangladesh out of two difficult spots on 8 for 2 and 132 for 6. Zimbabwe’s four-pronged pace attack kept the visitors on the back foot but the moment captain Brendan Taylor had to resort to part-time bowlers, Bangladesh got back into the game and never looked back. — ESPN/AFP.
