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Bennett's Twin 50s Overcome Mehidy Hasan’s 10-Fer As ZIM Go 1-0 Up Vs Bangladesh

Aakash Saini

Zimbabwe players celebrating a Bangladeshi wicket [Source: @ZimCricketv/x]Zimbabwe players celebrating a Bangladeshi wicket [Source: @ZimCricketv/x]

Zimbabwe cricket team scripted history in Bangladesh by winning the series-opening first Test match in Sylhet. Taking a 1-0 lead in their two-match away series, Zimbabwe’s win also marked their first in over four years of Test cricket.

Here, we sum up the report of the entire Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe first Test, as it panned out at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.

Zimbabwe ended up with 82-run lead at halfway stage

Winning the toss and opting to bat first, hosts Bangladesh folded up for just 191 in 61 overs within the opening day of the match. Mominul Haque at number three himself sculpted 56 of those runs from 105 balls, while captain Najmul Hossain Shanto at four carved 40 runs with six elegant boundaries.

For Zimbabwe, lanky paceman Blessing Muzarabani (3-50) and left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza (3-21) decimated Bangladesh with three wickets each, and Victor Nyauchi and Wessly Madhevere chipped in with four wickets between them.

In response, Zimbabwe tallied 273 from 80.2 overs by batting up until the second evening. Opening batter Brian Bennett and senior man Sean Williams smeared identical half-centuries, before Bangladeshi spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz (5-52) blew away Zimbabwe’s lower-half with a five-fer. Nahid Rana also picked up three wickets as Bangladesh limited Zimbabwe’s lead to 82 runs.

Bangladesh falls short despite Shanto, Miraz’s fightback

Facing an 82-run deficit, Bangladesh’s top-order batters Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Mominul Haque composed crucial runs at the top after the overnight dismissal of opener Shadman Islam. Captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and wicketkeeper-batter Jaker Ali washed over 100 deliveries each to score their half-centuries as Bangladesh overcome their deficit and notched up a 174-run target by reaching 255 in 79.2 overs.

For Zimbabwe, Blessing Muzarabani picked up sensational figures of 6-72, and the speedster received much assistance from Wellington Masakadza (2-20).

Chasing 174 for a win, opening batter Brian Bennett tonked his second fifty-plus score of the match while sharing a 95-run partnership with Ben Curran (44 off 75). Despite reaching 95-0 from 21 overs, Zimbabwe slipped to 128-4, and eventually to 161-7 courtesy of a spirited fightback from Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who picked up his second five-fer of the match to claim an exceptional match haul of 10-102.

However, a composed 19* from Wessly Madhevere ensured Zimbabwe sealed a tense chase in 50.1 overs inside four days to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.