Sakib al Hasan smashed a fifty and Rubel Hossain entertained with flurry of sixes but Zimbabwe took the honour on the second day of the third Test in Chittagong on Thursday.
Zimbabwe snapped eight wickets in two sessions and then left the field with 113-1 on board, boosting their chances of making it a contest on a dead pitch of the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium.
Bangladesh thought they had enough runs to scare Zimbabwe after they posted 503 runs, but the visitors treated them in equal manner in the little time they had chance to bat.
Sikandar Raza and Hamilton Masakadza scored unbeaten fifties and shared 104-run in an unbroken second wicket stand to prevent any collapse that was so typical for them throughout the series.
Raza remained unbeaten on 54 and Masakadza carried his confidence, derived from his century and fifty in the second Test in Khulna, to stay 51 not out.
The Tigers had a sniff when Rubel handed opener Brian Chari for a duck thanks to a Decision Review System that worked for Bangladesh on a rare occasion.
Umpire Aleem Dar initially gave Chari not out on a caught behind appeal but Bangladesh reviewed it to overturn his decision.
Raza and Masakadza, however, did not get panicked and used their feet nicely to hit some juicy boundaries keeping Zimbabwe firmly in the contest.
Zimbabwe bowled extremely well in the morning to leave Bangladesh somewhat off-guard after the hosts resumed on a solid platform of 303-2 hoping of scoring some quick runs again.
The script, however, did not follow the way they had envisaged it.
Mominul Haque could add just two runs to his overnight 46, which had frightened Mahmudullah so much so, that he started batting in a way as if he was asked to save the game, not build the innings.
His painstaking 68-ball innings of 16 runs ended in a leg-before before skipper Mushfiqur Rahim dragged a low ball to the stumps to get bowled for 15.
Sakib, who needs 87 runs and three wickets to complete the double of 250 runs and 20 wickets in the series, hit back Zimbabwean bowlers to bring the innings back on track.
Just when he looked certain to reach his batting goal, Sakib made a mistake trying so sweep Raza. The leading edge flew to Craig Ervine who completed a spectacular catch to send back Bangladesh talisman for 71 runs.
When the last recognised batsman Shuvagata Hom was run out for 35, it seemed Bangladesh had to be satisfied with a mediocre total.
But Rubel had other ideas.
He hit four sixes and two fours to score 45 off 44 balls, helping Bangladesh to get past 500-run mark, only for the third time in their history and for the first time against Zimbabwe, surpassing their previous record of 488 runs against the Africans at Chittagong in 2005.
‘It was actually a nice wicket to bat on,’ Rubel said later. ‘I had the last wicket with me. So, I had to slog, luckily I got my timing well,’ said Rubel, who easily surpassed his previous best of 17.
Only Mohammad Rafique could hit more sixes (six) than him in a Test innings for Bangladesh against the Australians at the same ground in 2006.
Rubel’s 51-run last wicket stand with Jubair Hossain ironically was the second highest for Bangladesh innings after Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes’ record 224-run opening stand.
-With New Age input
