HARARE — Zimbabwe kept up the pressure on Bangladesh in the second session of the opening day of their one-off Test in Harare, reducing them to 132 for 6 at one stage before Bangladesh recovered somewhat to go to tea at 167 for 6, having added 97 runs after lunch, but losing three more wickets along the way.
Blessing Muzarabani followed up his incisive morning spell with another good one after lunch, and Victor Nyauchi complemented him well, taking the important wickets of Shakib Al Hasan and Mominul Haque, who scored 70 off 92 balls.
They engineered a mini-collapse, sending Bangladesh from 106 for 3 to 132 for 6 in the space of 7.2 overs, but that’s when Bangladesh’s long batting line-up proved useful.
They still had Liton Das and Mahmudullah, playing his first Test in 18 months, and the two of them kept the innings going with an unbroken 35-run stand.
Muzarabani gave Zimbabwe the breakthrough after lunch when he trapped Mushfiqur Rahim lbw, shouldering arms, for 11.
The absence of DRS perhaps helped Zimbabwe as replays showed that Rahim might otherwise have been saved by the bounce.
But Bangladesh couldn’t think about that for long as Nyauchi removed Shakib, on his return to the Test side, in the following over.
At the other end, Haque, who reached his 14th Test 50, was living a chancy life.
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He was dropped on 52 when Richard Ngarava couldn’t get down quickly enough to his checked drive at mid-on off Muzarabani.
Then Muzarabani dropped him on 60 off his own bowling.
But Nyauchi had Haque’s number soon when he had the Bangladesh captain caught at gully.
In the first session, Bangladesh went to lunch at 70 for 3, having recovered from 8 for 2.
Muzarabani’s double-blow had rocked them early, as he nailed Saif Hassan with a sharp inswinger, and Najmul Hossain Shanto caught at third slip where debutant Dion Myers took the catch.
Haque struck a string of boundaries to push back at the pace attack, and Shadman Islam’s edges found gaps and went for fours too, before Ngarava had him caught at first slip for 23.
The composition of the two bowling attacks was the main talking point after Haque called the toss correctly.
Zimbabwe went with a four-man pace attack while the visitors opted for two pacers and two spinners.
Zimbabwe, playing without senior pros Sean Williams and Craig Ervine, who had to go into isolation after coming in contact with family members who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, have certainly used their bowling resources well so far. — ESPN Cricinfo
