Shanto, Mominul fifties hand Bangladesh early advantage
Shanto scored a well-compiled 71, his first fifty in Test cricket, while Mominul remained unbeaten on 79, as the hosts stood 25 runs behind Zimbabwe in their first innings. Mushfiqur Rahim offered solid support to the skipper, as the duo forged an unbreached 68-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Bangladesh didn't have the best of starts as opener Saif Hassan, after striking two exquisite boundaries, feathered one behind off Victor Nyauchi on the last ball of the fourth over. They stood at 25/1 at lunch, after which Tamim Iqbal and Najmul Shanto showed great application to steady the ship. Tamim struck seven fours during his 89-ball-stay, which was brought to an end courtesy of a loose drive off Donald Tiripano's medium pace that took a faint tickle through to the keeper.
Stumps!
— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2020
Mominul Haque's 7️⃣9️⃣* means Bangladesh are in control 🇧🇩 #BANvZIM pic.twitter.com/HheBBUp1b0
Shanto though, carried on, reaching his maiden Test fifty in the penultimate over of the second session. Post tea, him and Mominul began steadily: the skipper playing the aggressor, scoring 35 of the first fifty runs in the partnership. Shanto however, edged an away angling delivery from Charlton Tshuma to hand the debutant his maiden Test wicket.
Rahim survived a close leg-before call early into his innings: he shouldered arms to a length delivery outside off from Tshuma and the visitors went for the review after being denied by the on-field umpire. The ball-tracking however, showed that it would've missed the stumps. That was the last real threat from Zimbabwe on day two, as Rahim and Mominul continued with solidity, the latter registering his 14th Test fifty.
Charlton Tshuma gets his maiden Test wicket!
— ICC (@ICC) February 23, 2020
Shanto tries to play a flashy drive and only gets an edge to the keeper, falling for 71. It was a fine knock while it lasted.#BANvZIM pic.twitter.com/B3KCyQVf69
Earlier, Zimbabwe could add only 37 runs to their overnight score of 228/6, while grinding it out for 16.3 overs in the morning session. Tiripano hit two boundaries in successive overs, before edging one behind off Abu Jayed, while Ainsley Ndlovu was trapped leg-before for a six-ball duck by the same bowler.
Tshuma followed soon after, missing an attempted block to be trapped right in front off Taijul Islam's left-arm spin. Regis Chakbva, the keeper-batsman tried to up the scoring, but mistimed a slog off Taijul, which went only as far as Nayeem Hasan at mid-wicket.
