Najmul Hossain Shanto said Bangladesh scored fast on the fourth day and gave their team's bowlers enough time to bowl out Zimbabwe in the fourth innings. Shanto and Shadman Islam both scored unbeaten centuries to take Bangladesh's lead to 476 before Brendan Taylor's counterattack of 92 took the hosts to 140 for 3 at stumps.
Shanto said Bangladesh were still on their way to victory, but the Harare pitch didn't have too many monsters for the batsmen.
"It will always be useful to give our bowlers more time to get them out," Shanto said. "So we needed to score quick runs, and it went according to plan. I think we are in a good position. But we have a lot of work to do. The wicket is still pretty good. Our bowlers and fielders have their jobs." Cut out. We hope to take early wickets, which will make things easier for us."
Shanto's 117 included six sixes, a new record in Zimbabwe, as he went after part-time spinners Roy Kaia and Milton Shumba. He added 196 runs with Islam, Bangladesh's highest stand of second wicket against Zimbabwe.
It was Shanto's second century in three Tests, although there have been some low scores in between. "I try to stay in the present, not think about what happened in the last four innings. I can have a bad day, but I always try to score runs."
Shanto said that he and Islam were guiding each other throughout the partnership.
"The positive side was that we talked to each other about what to do and when. We weren't looking to score a century. We were responding to the match situation, but we ended up on two good scores. happened," he said.
Islam dedicated his first Test century to his parents. Islam's father has been working for over two decades in the development program of BCB, which specializes in spotting young talent. Both Islam and Shantou have come through this system, although Islam is a late bloomer.
"I wanted to play ball-by-ball but I got a century. I am happy with my achievement. This century has come because of my teammates and coaches. I want to dedicate it to my parents," he said . said.
Islam also said that he felt bad that Saif Hasan, who scored 43 runs, missed out on a big score.
"Saif was unfortunate to get out like this. He was batting well today, and we were doing well together. Shanto came and told me that we should continue like that. But things changed after lunch, That's when we decided to go up the scoring rate."