Late afternoon batting collapse, Bangladesh lead by 64 runs
Bangladesh was dreaming of a big lead in the first innings of the second Test against Zimbabwe. But the end of the second day did not go as planned for the hosts. They lost 4 wickets after scoring the last 20 runs. At the end of the day, Bangladesh's first innings total was 291 for 7, their lead against Zimbabwe stood at 64 runs.
Earlier, Nazmul Hossain Shanto's team dominated the first day of the Chittagong Test and almost the entire second day today (Tuesday). After a long wait, opener Sadman Islam ended his century drought today. Along with him, Bangladesh took the lead at the beginning of the third session with the average innings of Mushfiqur and Vijay. Although no one else got a personal fifty except Sadman. At the end of the day, Mehedi Hasan Miraj is unbeaten on 16 and Taijul Islam is unbeaten on 5 runs.
Zimbabwe were all out for 227 runs in their first innings at the start of the second day. They ended the day with the same score for 9 wickets yesterday. No more extra runs were added today. Bangladesh came out to bat with relief thanks to Taijul Islam's 6-wicket haul. The two openers also started their innings well. Experienced Enamul Haque Bijoy was called into the team midway through the ongoing series. He made an opening partnership of 118 runs with Sadman. This is the first time Bangladesh has crossed 100 runs in an opening partnership since 2022.
Despite showing signs of great things after returning to the Test team after almost three years, Bijoy returned before his personal fifty. He could not play a ball just outside Mujarabani's off-stump properly. The ball went and hit his back leg. After being out lbw, the review did not save the day. Bijoy was out for 39 runs. This is the best innings of Bijoy's career, which has not had the opportunity to play many Tests. Even in two innings in a match, Bijoy has never been able to score 30 runs before.
From the beginning, the two Bangladesh openers did not have to suffer much in front of the Zimbabwe bowling attack. Sadman Islam got a fifty before lunch. He was fluent from the beginning. The boundaries were coming at regular intervals. Finally, he got a century off 142 balls. Which was the second century of his Test career. The first century was also against Zimbabwe. That was in Harare in July 2021.
Sadman and Mominul's partnership was also building. The two made a 76-run partnership. However, Bangladesh lost two batters in two consecutive overs. Just before the tea break, Mominul was caught while playing an unnecessary slug sweep off Masakadza. He got 33 runs from his bat. Ryan Bennett LBWed the centurion Sadman on the first ball of the next over. Sadman scored 120 runs off 181 balls with 16 fours and a six. This is his personal best in Tests. Then Shanto-Mushfiqur put on a 65-run partnership.
The partnership was broken when Shanto (23) departed for the team's 259. That's when the hosts' batting collapse began. From 259/3, the scoreboard changed to 279/7 in a short time. Mushfiqur, who has been criticized for his run-rate recently, was close to scoring his personal fifty when he was run out of luck. He wanted to take a strike in the next over by taking 1 run off the last ball of Vincent Masekesa's over. As a result, the experienced star's innings was stopped at 40 runs. Apart from this, the Tigers were in big trouble when Zaker Ali returned with 5 and Naeem Hasan with 3 runs. However, Miraj-Taijul passed the remaining few overs of the day without any worries. Masekesa has taken the highest wickets for Zimbabwe so far, 3.
