Mominul Haque hit his ninth ton while Mushfiqur Rahim remains one run short of his seventh century as Bangladesh put them in a strong position at lunch on day three of the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Monday.At the first break of the day, Bangladesh reached 351-3, stretching their lead to 86 runs.
Zimbabwe was bowled out for 265 in its first innings.
Mominul was batting on 119 off 205, sending the ball across the rope for 13 times while Mushfiqur was on 99, after striking 17 delightful boundaries.
The incumbent and former captain kept them unscathed throughout the morning session after resuming the day three on 240-3. They so far added 179-run for
the unbroken fourth wicket stand.
Mominul brought up his first century as captain with an intriguing cover-drive for boundary against Donald Tiripano off 154 balls. His ninth career
century saw him level Tamim Iqbal as the highest century-maker for Bangladesh.
While Tamim’s nine centuries came in 60 Test matches, Mominul reached here in his 40th match.
In the wake of huge criticism following Bangladesh batsmen’s tendency of not playing big innings, Mominul literally challenged the critics by vowing
that a big century is on the card by any Bangladeshi batsman in this Test.
But he himself seemed to have driven mostly by self-imposed challenge and didn’t celebrate much after reaching the three-figure mark as he looked more
determined to make it bigger.
While Mominul showed his calm demeanor, Mushfiqur Rahim played shots at will around the park and raised a prospect of reaching the century before the
lunch as he slapped an Ainsley Ndlovu delivery for four through leg-square to reach 99 in the fourth delivery of the last over before lunch.
However he couldn’t score any runs in the last two deliveries, leaving him stranded on 99, reports internet.
