Bangladesh lose first Test as Zimbabwe complete nervy chase despite Miraz 5-for

Zimbabwe have overcome a five-wicket haul by Mehidy Hasan Miraz to complete a tense chase to seal a three-wicket win over Bangladesh in the final session of the penultimate day of the opening Test.

The target was a modest 174 runs, but chasing it down, Zimbabwe secured their first Test win in over four years with their highest-successful second-innings chase ever at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Before this, they never successfully chased down anything more than 162 in a Test. That record came in 1998 when they beat Pakistan by seven wickets.

Aside from that, Zimbabwe have only two other successful chases of over 100 runs in Test cricket.

The visitors reached 117 for 2 at the stroke of tea, needing 57 runs to make a statement. It seemed straightforward at that point.

But Miraz (5-50) made life hard for the batters, who struggled to keep their cool, missing the line and playing nervy strokes with daylight dying in Sylhet.

After taking out Ben Curran (44) before the tea break, Miraz, who had also claimed five wickets in the first innings, took out Sean Williams (9), Brian Bennett (54), Nyasha Mayavo (1) and Wellington Masakadza to complete his haul in a rain-interrupted session.

Zimbabwe toiled from 95 for no loss to 161 for 7 in the process as Wessly Madhevere (19) stepped up and helped his side coast to the win to seal a stirring win that will be relished and rejoiced everywhere in their home country.

For Bangladesh, batting collapses in both innings proved to be costly as the bowlers had little to work with.

Earlier, Blessing Muzarabani led an inspired fightback with a six-wicket haul as Zimbabwe rattled Bangladesh by bundling them out for 255 in their second innings.

After a rain-delayed start on Day 4, the hosts’ wickets fell like ninepins as they lost six batters for just 61 runs in an action-packed morning where Zimbabwe came out on top and were set a 174-target for victory.

After a slight delay to the start of play due to a wet outfield, Bangladesh resumed leading Zimbabwe by 112, an overnight 194 for 4, aiming for an imposing target to pile pressure on the Eagles for the final innings. But things did not go as planned for Najmul Hossain Shanto and his men.

Shanto (60) fell after skying Muzarabani off only the second ball of the day.

Bangladesh’s 5-for hero Miraz joined Jaker Ali (58) in the middle, pushing his team past 200. However, he ended up edging a Muzarabani delivery to the slips for just 11 as Bangladesh’s batting woes continued into the morning.

Zimbabwe bowlers maintained a probing line to dismiss Taijul Islam (1) but Jaker then put up some resistance with Hasan Mahmud (12) to add 35 runs to the total.

Jaker, however, was running out of partners at the other end when he decided to smash some quick runs. But it backfired as he went down swinging as the last wicket to Muzarabani, who finished with 6 for 72.

The collapse followed Bangladesh’s tame show with the bat in the first innings when they crumbled from 98-2 to 146-7 in the first innings before managing 191. Zimbabwe had scored 273 in their first innings.