Bangladesh sniff victory as Zimbabwe 114-5 at lunch
Zimbabwe finished the first session 114-5, still trailing by 181 runs and Bangladesh only need five wickets to clinch a win.
Bangladesh picked up three wickets by lunch on the fourth day of their one-off Test against Zimbabwe as the Tigers can now sniff victory. This will be the Tigers' first victory after a long time as their last victory in the longer format came in 2018.
Zimbabwe finished the first session 114-5, still trailing by 181 runs and Bangladesh only need five wickets to clinch a win.
Rain might play spoilsport for the hosts as it has been a very light drizzle since the morning but not enough to stop play. Bangladesh will hope for an improvement in the conditions so that they are able to wrap the Test up within the day.
Bangladesh had piled up a massive 560-6 before declaring on the third day, courtesy of Mushfiqur Rahim's third double hundred. In their short batting stint of five overs on the third day, Zimbabwe lost two wickets to Nayeem Hasan as they ended the day on 9-2.
Zimbabwe resumed their batting on the fourth day with hopes that their batsmen will manage to fight the uphill battle. But they were dealt a blow almost immediately at the start as Kevin Kasuza went back giving an easy catch to Mohammad Mithun at second slip off Taijul Islam.
Nayeem had caused Zimbabwe casualties last afternoon and he continued to do so once he came into the bowling on the fourth day. Brendan Taylor, Zimbabwe's veteran batsman, tried to sweep the off-spinner but only managed to top-edge it as Taijul caught it coming in from deep square-leg.
Sikandar Raza and skipper Craig Ervine put up 60 runs together hastily but Ervine managed to get himself run out just at the stroke of lunch by his counterpart Mominul Haque. Raza hit the ball towards cover and Mominul hit the stumps directly to send Ervine back for 43 off 49 deliveries.
Raza and Timycen Maruma was at the crease at lunch as Zimbabwe were on 114-5. Raza was unbeaten on 33 as Maruma was on 3.
