Lunch Bangladesh 404 for 8 (Mahmdullah 112*, Taskin 52*, Muzarabani 3-72) vs Zimbabwe
Mahmudullah and Taskin Ahmed turned Bangladesh's innings around on the second morning of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe. On the back of their 134-run unbeaten stand for the ninth wicket, the visitors breached 400, a score unexpected when they finished day one on 294 for 8.
Mahmudullah made his fifth Test century while Taskin, with a previous highest of 33, got his maiden half-century. It was only the second fifty by a Bangladeshi batter from No. 9 or lower in the last nine years. Their partnership is now the second-highest for Bangladesh for the ninth wicket, as well as the second-highest against Zimbabwe.
Mahmudullah was unbeaten on 112 off 215 balls with eleven fours and a six, while Ahmed was not out on 52 off 89 balls with eight fours. The pair added 110 runs at a run-rate of 4.58 in the first session of the second day.
It all kicked off in the second over of the morning when Ahmed did a little jig after leaving a Muzarabani delivery. It was innocent enough but Muzarabani said something, to which Ahmed replied, and got into each other's face... quite literally.
The moment sparked Ahmed positively, as he blunted Muzarabani's opening spell, one that had put Zimbabwe on top on the first day. Ahmed struck Muzarabani for five fours, couple of them textbook cover-drives. Mahmudullah started scoring more freely too, perhaps finding confidence in Ahmed's spunk.
Mahmudullah, who was unbeaten on 54 overnight, struck six fours and a six in the morning session. A pair of boundaries through the covers off Roy Kaia to bring up his Test century, his second batting at No 8, and the first by a Bangladeshi on his 50th Test.
Taskin looked more solid as the morning progressed, reaching his half-century off 69 balls. He was dropped on 32 by Milton Shumba at second slip, adding to Zimbabwe's misery.
The hosts had gone into the second day after dominating Bangladesh for long periods of the first day. Muzarabani gave them two wickets in the first thirty minutes of the Test. And despite Mominul Haque's compact 70 that included 13 boundaries, Zimbabwe hit back to reduce Bangladesh to 132 for 6 after lunch.
Liton Das and Mahmudullah however got Bangladesh dreaming of a respectable total when they added 138 runs for the seventh wicket. The pair faced nearly 24 overs of innocuous spin from Milton Shumba and Roy Kaia, brought about in part due to Zimbabwe's slow over-rate in the first two sessions - bowling 49 overs in four hours - which led to captain Brendan Taylor to abandon his pace plan for such a long period, allowing Bangladesh to regain ground.
But when he did bring back Donald Tiripano, a wicket came soon after. Tiripano had Das hooking, and caught at deep fine-leg, five runs short of his maiden Test century. He removed Mehidy Hasan Miraz next ball, before Mahmudullah, Taskin Ahmed and bad light saw them to the end of the first day. The first session of the second day, however, has completely belonged to Bangladesh.
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo's Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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