Tatenda Taibu completed his maiden Test century to put Zimbabwe in a strong position on the fourth day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka on Monday.
The Zimbabwean captain (21) cracked a solid 153 not out as Zimbabwe reached 285-9 in their second innings at lunch for an overall lead of 372 runs.
Taibu, who had already scored two half-centuries against the hosts, struck two sixes and 19 fours in his 283-ball knock to enhance his team’s hopes of squaring the series. Zimbabwe had lost the opening Test at Chittagong by 226 runs.
Resuming at 203-6, Zimbabwe lost overnight batsman Tinashe Panyangara and Graeme Cremer early in the morning session before Taibu received valuable support from tail-ender Douglas Hondo to help his team set a stiff target for the hosts.
Taibu did the bulk of scoring in a defiant 67-run stand for the ninth wicket with Hondo, whose contribution was just three runs.
The Zimbabwean skipper flayed the Bangladeshi attack after completing his first 100 in 18 Test matches, taking just 60 balls to race from 100 to 150.
Teenage left-arm spinner Enamul Haque claimed all three wickets to fall in the first session to become the first Bangladeshi bowler to bag 10 or more wickets in a Test match.
Haque (18) had taken seven wickets in the first innings. — Sapa-AFP