Bangladesh fold for 468 as Mahmudullah stays unbeaten on 150

Bangladesh finished on 468 after Mahmudullah 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.

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.

Source: ESPNcricinfo