Bangladesh seem to have lost their foothold in international cricket. After getting humiliated against West Indies and Sri Lanka in the Test arena, the Bangladesh batsmen have now struggled to perform anything of substance against Zimbabwe in their one-off Test match in Harare. Courtesy some exceptional piece of fast bowling by Blessing Muzarabani, Bangladesh find themselves in a spot of bother tottering at 167/6 at the time of writing this article.
It was Bangladesh skipper Mominul Haque who won the toss and put Zimbabwe in to bowl first. Muzarabani made an immediate impact in the very first over castling Saif Hassan with a peach of a delivery. He kept bowling in the right channels creating pressure on the experienced Bangladesh middle-order.
Richard Ngarava partnered Muzarabani very well and bagged the other opener in quick time as the Bangla Tigers were reduced to 8/2. A solid partnership of 60 runs between Shadman Islam and the skipper Mominul steadied the ship but Islam’s dismissal again tilted the scales in favour of the home team.
Mominul tried to rebuild yet again with Mushfiqur Rahim but the partnership of 37 runs was brought to an end by Muzarabani as he removed Rahim after surviving a few close shaves. Rahim padded up to an inswinging delivery and soon after Shakib Al Hasan was also dismissed and Bangladesh were staring down the barrel.
Mominul Haque looked the most assured of all the Bangladesh batsman and went on to notch up yet another half-century. Mominul was dismissed on 70 due to a poor shot. He ended up cutting a short and wide delivery straight to the gully fielder. Litton Das and Mahmudullah are currently at the crease trying to get Bangladesh to a competitive first-innings score.