The Bangladesh batters knuckled down in the first innings of the second Test against Zimbabwe to reach a total of 303-5 at the end of day one in Dhaka.
After the pain of losing the first Test to Zimbabwe by 151 runs, Bangladesh were once again staring down the barrel of a gun after electing to bat first.
Opening bowler Kyle Jarvis removed both Bangladesh openers Liton Das (nine off 35 balls) and Imrul Kayes (a 16-ball duck), with Donald Tiripano following up with the wicket of Mohammad Mithun for a four-ball duck on his Test debut.
From 26-3, Mominul Haque and wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim dug in and built a huge partnership to smash Bangladesh’s fourth-wicket partnership record by almost 100 runs. The pair surpassed the 236 they had put on together in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Chittagong early in 2018, and put on a total of 266 runs together to set their country’s fourth-highest partnership for any wicket, falling one run short of the 267 for the fifth wicket set by Rahim and Mohammad Ashraful (267, fifth wicket, Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka, Galle, 2013).
Rahim also holds his country’s highest ever partnership of 359 for the fifth wicket, which he put on with Shakib Al Hasan against New Zealand in 2017.
Haque fell four overs before the close of play after scoring a superb 161 off 247 balls (19 fours), falling 20 runs short of his highest Test score after scoring his seventh Test century.
Rahim ended the day undefeated on 111 off 231 balls (nine fours), having recorded his sixth Test century, as Bangladesh finished on a healthy 303-5.
Jarvis picked up 3-48 (econ 2.52) after toiling for 19 overs, with Tiripano (1-33) the only other bowler to taste success on the day.
Photo: Munir us Zaman/AFP/Getty Images
