Mominul Haque and Mushfiqur Rahim consolidated Bangladesh’s position as they extended the lead to 86 by Lunch on the third day in Dhaka. Bangladesh went into the break at 351 for 3 with the Bangladesh captain cracking his ninth Test ton. Rahim too surged towards his ton and ended the session unbeaten on 99.
In a pretty uneventful session, the pair extended their collaboration to 179 after starting on 240 for 3. After five low overs at the origin of the day, Ainsley Ndlovu began the overflow as he flowed three boundaries in the 77th over. In the 80th over, the duo produced up their hundred partnership as Zimbabwe took the new ball as soon as it was available.
However, both Donald Tiripano and Victor Nyauchi were wayward and lacked the consistency to trouble the batsmen. Mominul got to his century first – with a drive past mid-off for a boundary – off 156 balls. Rahim completed his half-century and drove the side past 300 to put Zimbabwe under pressure. A clip to fine-leg off Charlton Tshuma helped Rahim enter the 90s as Zimbabwe bowled more than 20 consecutive overs without a maiden in the session. The sole half-chance for Zimbabwe was in the 87th over as the wicket-keeper executed a reverse sweep that came just short of the backward position fielder.
Brief scores: Zim 265 (C Ervine 107; N Hasan 4-70), Ban 351/3 (M Haque 119*, M Rahim 99*) by 86 runs.
