Najmul Hossain Shanto had been struggling with a long run drought. In the first innings of this year's first Test, he came close to a fifty but fell short, leaving him disappointed. However, in the second innings, he played a controlled knock and scored a fifty off 84 balls, marking his first Test fifty in nearly seven months.
As of this report, Bangladesh's score stood at 183 for 4 after 48 overs, with Shanto at 53 runs and Mushfiqur Rahim on 2. Bangladesh held a 17-run lead.
The first session on Tuesday (April 22) was washed out due to rain, delaying the start of the second day's play. The second day began with the previous day's batsmen, Joy, who had made 28 off 42 balls, and Mominul Haque, who had made 15 off 26 balls.
In the second innings, the pair managed 57 runs for the loss of 1 wicket in 13 overs. The third wicket fell when Mahmudul Hasan was dismissed for 5 runs, bringing his personal score to 33 off 65 balls.
Coming in at number four, Najmul played alongside Mominul, adopting an aggressive style of batting akin to a One-Day match. Their partnership helped Bangladesh chase down the 82-run target set by Zimbabwe and take a lead.
Mominul fell short of his fifty by just 3 runs, dismissed for 47 runs off 84 balls. Veteran Mushfiqur Rahim, who had scored 4 runs in the first innings, couldn’t make an impact this time either, adding just 4 runs. As a result, Bangladesh lost 5 wickets for 155 runs.
Despite this, Shanto stood firm and reached his fifth Test fifty, with Zakir Ali Onik providing support at the other end.
