HARARE: Bangladesh were on the backfoot after losing an early wicket in their second innings at the end of the second day of their one-off Test against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Monday.

Bangladesh were 40-1 at stumps, trailing by 230 runs after Zimbabwe built a commanding 270-run first innings lead.

Zimbabwe, who were 136-1 at the start of play in response to Bangladesh’s 140-run first innings total, were bowled out for 410, with opener Innocent Kaia scoring 140 for his first Test century on his return to the team after a three-year absence.

Wessly Madhevere (77), Craig Ervine (60) and Brian Bennett (59) all made significant contributions, with left-arm spinner Taijul Islam taking 7-138.

Bangladeshi batsman Shadman Islam was dismissed near the close of play with new Zimbabwe captain Richard Ngarava having him caught at slip by Ben Curran, leaving Mahmudul Hasan Joy and Mominul Haque to resume on Tuesday.

SCOREBOARD

ZIMBABWE (1st Innings, overnight 136-1):

I. Kaia c Shadman b Taijul 140

B. Curran c Najmul b Khaled 42

B. Taylor c Amite b Khaled 17

B. Bennett c&b Taijul 59

C. Ervine c Hasan b Taijul 60

T. Tsiga run out 1

W. Madhevere not out 77

B. Evans lbw b Taijul 4

N. Nyamhuri c Towhid b Taijul 0

R. Ngarava b Taijul 3

B. Muzarabani lbw b Taijul 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-5, W-1) 7

TOTAL (all out, 107.2 overs) 410

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-89 (Curran), 2-143 (Taylor), 3-250 (Bennett), 4-279 (Kaia), 5-280 (Tsiga), 6-382 (Ervine), 7-394 (Evans), 8-396 (Nyamhuri), 9-404 (Ngarava)

BOWLING: Hasan 25-2-102-0, Khaled 22-3-68-2, Ebadot 20-1-96-0 (1w), Taijul 40.2-1-138-7

BANGLADESH (1st Innings):

Mahmudul Hasan not out 21

Shadman Islam c Curran b Ngarava 9

Mominul Haque not out 9

EXTRA (W-1) 1

TOTAL (for one wicket, 9 overs) 40

STILL TO BAT: Najmul Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Mushfiqur Rahim, Amite Hasan, Taijul Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Khaled Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain

FALL OF WICKET: 1-22 (Shadman)

BOWLING: Ngarava 3-0-14-1, Muzarabani 4-0-21-0 (1w), Evans 2-1-5-0

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2026