A nuggety Tamim Iqbal century was complemented by a stroke-filled 89 from Shakib Al Hasan as Bangladesh cashed in on the painstaking foundation they had laid in Khulna. There were barely any chances in the morning and the discipline Zimbabwe had shown yesterday had vanished much to the joy of the home crowd.

When the breakthrough did come - a mistimed drive from Tamim found gully with lunch only 2.3 overs away to end a 132-run stand - Zimbabwe would have felt more relieved than anything. They had been taken for 123 runs in 30 overs and a large part of that was down to Shakib's desire to boss proceedings.

Zimbabwe's bowlers had been able to strangle Bangladesh on the first day, so much that Elton Chigumbura believed honours had been even. There had only been 18 fours yesterday, one session's play today produced 13, and three sixes. It was almost as if Bangladesh were telling the opposition they could have upped the ante any time they wished, but had chosen not to.

Brendan Taylor saw nothing in the pitch to encourage the seamers. He resorted to the part-time spinners to lull a mistake out of the batsmen. Bangladesh did display a greater inclination to hit out and enjoyed success quite regularly. Shakib welcomed Malcolm Waller by running at him and depositing him over long-on. He had realised a softer ball would not afford much spin and used his swift and decisive footwork to unsettle them. Natsai M'shangwe's legbreaks finally made an appearance after 17 overs of play, but in his second over, Shakib tonked a loopy full toss to the midwicket boundary.

Two balls later, Tamim nailed a drive wide of long-on to savour his first Test century in four years and acknowledged the landmark with a broad smile while his team-mates leapt to their feet. His captain, Mushfiqur Rahim, was pumping his fists. Those smiles are likely to get even broader unless Zimbabwe can find a way to apply sustained pressure.

(Cricinfo)