Bangladesh batsmen Shadman Islam and Nazmul Hossain Shanto made up for their failures with the bat in the first innings by scoring centuries in the second innings against Zimbabwe in their one-off Test at Harare.
Opener Shadman, who was out for only 23 runs in the first innings, registered his maiden Test ton, while Shanto, who was out for two, got his second.
Shadman might have not been playing in this Test if Tamim Iqbal was fully fit, as he was not picked in the XI for both the matches against Sri Lanka in April.
Shanto was also going through a bad patch after getting his maiden Test ton in Sri Lanka that continued till the first innings, where he scored only two runs, but the left-hander bounced back with a sparkling century in the second innings.
Together, Shadman and Shanto had an unbroken partnership of 196 runs before Mominul Haque declared the innings, leaving them at the third position for the highest Bangladesh stand for the second wicket.
Shadman started the day with the overnight score of 22 runs and reached his hundred with a gentle flick to the square leg for a couple of runs which took him from 98 to 100.
He remained unbeaten on 115 from 196 balls with nine boundaries in his patient and composed innings.
On the other end, Shanto was more aggressive since coming in after Saif Hassan’s departure as he tried to score quick runs to give Bangladesh a healthy lead and ample time to bowl out Zimbabwe in the fourth innings.
Shanto scored an unbeaten 117 from 118 balls with five boundaries and half a dozen sixes, with five of them coming against off-spinner Roy Kaia.
Centuries from Shadman and Shanto gave Bangladesh a massive lead of 476 runs as skipper Mominul declared half-an-hour before the tea-break when Bangladesh were 284-1.
Zimbabwe must overwrite the record books to win the Harare Test. They need to supersede the highest successful run chase in the fourth innings by West Indies, which came against Australia in 2003, where the Caribbeans chased down 418 in 2003 at Antigua.
But the hosts had a bad start as they lost one of their openers, Milton Shumba (11), very early in their innings. He was trying to poke a delivery from Taskin Ahmed but found himself caught by substitute fielder Yasir Ali at the third slip.
Earlier, Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz restricted Zimbabwe for 276 runs in the first innings as both the spinners picked nine wickets combinedly to strangle the hosts.
Mehidy took 82-5, his eighth five-wicket-haul, bringing him on par with Taijul Islam for the second-highest number of fifers for Bangladesh. But the off-spinner has done it in 27th Test while the left-arm spinner did it in 33 Tests.
Zimbabwe was once looking good as they were 176-1, but after the departure of Brendon Taylor, they lost quick wickets and ended up being all-out for 276, losing the next nine wickets for just 100 runs.
