Najmul Hossain takes Bangladesh lead past 100

Bangladesh put themselves in a strong position in the first Test against Zimbabwe on a rain-truncated Day 3 in Sylhet. With only 44 overs of play possible, Bangladesh scored 137 runs and lost three wickets, with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto leading from the front with an unbeaten 60. The hosts currently lead Zimbabwe by 112 runs.

The first session was washed out due to a continuous downpour and play only commenced around 1PM local time. Mahmudul Hasan Joy, who was dropped on 6 on Day 2, got the hosts up and running in the first over of the day. The hosts initially capitalised on some sloppy fielding by Zimbabwe, running hard between the wickets, before Mominul Haque scored the first boundary off the bat back past the bowler.

Blessing Muzarabani was on the money with the ball on Day 3, getting it to jump because of his height. In the fourth over of his first spell of the day, he was rewarded for his efforts as Mahmudul copped a short-ball onto his glove which ballooned to first-slip. Muzarabani's partner Richard Ngarava, however, wasn't at his best and Najmul timed three balls to perfection which found the fence. The boundaries were also sandwiched by five-wides, in an expensive 18-run over.

A confident Shanto then slapped Muzarabani over point as Bangladesh brought up their 100, and followed up with welcoming Richard Nyauchi with a straight drive for four in his first over of the day. Zimbabwe's turmoil in the field continued as the 'keeper dropped Shanto off Wessly Madhevere. A few overs later Mominul decided it was on him to take the attack to the bowlers with two boundaries off Madhevere. But the 65-run partnership came to an end when Mominul couldn't ride the bounce of a short delivery from Nyauchi, which forced him to poke at it and find the 'keeper.

Zimbabwe continued the short-ball ploy and hit Shanto on the helmet before one flew off a thick-edge past the second-slip to the fence. But Muzarabani picked up his third of the innings, on the stroke of Tea, as Mushfiqur Rahim prodded yet another short delivery to slip.

Jaker Ali batted positively after Tea with three boundaries, and took on the bounce of Muzarabani as well. Shanto soon brought up his 50 with a cover drive before play was stopped due to bad light and Stumps were subsequently called.

Brief Scores: Bangladesh 191 & 194/4 (Najmul Hossain Shanto 60*, Mominul Haque 47; Blessing Muzarabani 3-51, Victor Nyauchi 1-28) lead Zimbabwe 273 (Sean Williams 59, Brian Bennett 57; Mehidy Hasan Miraz 5-52, Nahid Rana 3-74) by 112 runs