Bangladesh needed eight batsmen to tackle the first day's pitch in Harare, according to Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque. The visitors eventually won the Test against Zimbabwe by 220 runs, but despite an unusually long batting, they ran into trouble on day one as well, slipping to 132 for 6.
Batting at number eight, Mahmudullah scored an unbeaten 150 and shared 138 and 191 runs with Liton Das and Taskin Ahmed for the seventh and ninth wickets respectively. Das and Ahmed both posted career-best scores as Bangladesh finished for 468 in the first innings.
"After looking at the pitch, I expected it to be operational on day 4 or 5, so I decided to bat first," Haq said. "We were confident that our spinners could take advantage of those conditions. Without Shakib bhai, it would have been difficult to create combinations in these conditions. Looking at the wicket, I felt some of us might struggle but with a long batting line- Up, we can get away with it."
Haque lauded the contributions of Mahmudullah, Das and Ahmed, saying that their efforts made the batting very easy for Shadman Islam and Najmul Hossain Shanto in the second innings.
"Riyadh bhai's partnership with Liton was crucial as we were 132-6 at the time. Riyadh played an excellent innings. Taskin's 75 was also crucial to win this Test match.
He said, "Being ahead in the first innings keeps you in the game for a long time. Shanto and Shadman played well in the second innings without any pressure, which is how it should be. I think they batted normally Made great use of the situation."
The long batting line-up also meant that Bangladesh had only four frontline bowlers in their XI. This happened despite Shakib being in favor and Mehdi Hasan Miraj improving his batting. Questions were also raised on the team management's decision to drop Abu Zayed from the team.
Despite the bowler taking only seven wickets at an average of 90.71 in the seven Test matches before Harare, Ebadat Hossain was picked in his place. Zayed averages 35.13 in 12 Tests, and is generally considered a better bowler in all conditions. This was the first overseas Test he missed since his debut in 2018.
"It was a flat and slow wicket, we preferred a fast bowler like Ebadat. So we decided to drop Rahi, but he was not out for good," Haq said. The match was because the pitch was flat and slow since the second day.
"The wicket has been flat since the second day of this Test. If we had worked too hard for wickets, we would have leaked runs. I had to stop the runs and we needed time to get them out. More runs would have helped them, not us. It takes some time for the batsmen to prepare them for getting out. I think the bowlers did very well.
Nevertheless, it was a welcome win for Bangladesh after losing three out of four Tests this year. Haque said this would help them move towards the second round of the World Test Championship, which will start after the T20 World Cup for Bangladesh.
"This Test win will instill confidence in everyone ahead of the World Test Championship. They will know their role better. We are trying