One of the areas that Tamim Iqbal discussed with the Bangladesh batsmen during and after the first Test against Zimbabwe was the pace of their innings. He isn't a big believer in defending too many deliveries for the sake of survival, which is what Bangladesh tried to do in Sylhet. Tamim feels batting becomes easier when you're always on the lookout for runs, regardless of the match situation.
Bangladesh suffered a familiar top-order collapse on the first day of the Dhaka Test but their recovery from that was simply excellent. They even crossed the dreaded 169, having failed to do so in each of their last eight innings. The 266-run partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque is the fourth-highest by a Bangladeshi pair. Mominul became the first batsman from his team to get to three 150-plus knocks, while Mushfiqur became only the 10th wicketkeeper to score six Test hundreds.
The change in fortune, particularly on an "unpredictable" pitch, was down to Mushfiqur and Mominul recognizing quite early that scoring runs will bring them comfort at the crease and in turn have the opposite effect on Zimbabwe's bowlers.
Mominul was the first to hit a boundary; by lunch he had four - one skewed over gully but the other three timed through midwicket, cover and mid-off. Mushfiqur was more careful, only looking for boundaries after the first interval. He had four fours when he reached his fifty.
The pair had a great time in the middle session, scoring 151 runs in 32 overs. Mominul reached his century during this time, and as the partnership went into a higher gear, it became evident that they had cut out the risks and were working hard to grind down the Zimbabwe bowlers.
In the last eight innings, the last of which was in Sylhet, the same batsmen had a hard time avoiding loose strokeplay. But here, there was a fine mix of deliveries left alone throughout their long partnership, with Mushfiqur especially careful against the fast bowling of Kyle Jarvis and Tendai Chatara. He reached his hundred after the tea interval, his first Test century since February 2017, against India in Hyderabad. The former Bangladesh captain has been very consistent in ODIs and T20Is during this period, but in Tests, especially with Tamim out injured, he needed to do better. And on Sunday, he most certainly did.
"Mushfiqur bhai guided me throughout my innings," Mominul said. "I found out why he is one of the top five players in Bangladesh. It really affected me. I think his input was important for me. I think it is one of my best hundreds. It was an interesting innings. It was tougher than some of my other hundreds."
Mominul is an instinctive top-order batsman. He made a good start to the year with his hundred in each innings against Sri Lanka. But apart from a 182 against Ireland A in August, he has had a lean time in 2018. But despite getting out to loose strokes several times in the last eight months, his confidence was evident even in Sylhet. Here in Dhaka, on a far more challenging pitch, Mominul scored freely but always made sure to pick the right balls to hit.
"I didn't see much of a difference [between this innings and the previous Tests]. I should have scored in the last five or six innings. You get out of the rhythm sometimes. Maybe something goes wrong with the routine, which I try to maintain.
"I don't try to complicate my batting. It is easier if you focus only on seeing the ball and playing the ball. You have to be mentally strong. Sometimes people say things when I am not scoring runs but that's normal. Everyone would."
Still, there were the odd silly mistakes. Mominul survived dropped catches (albeit tough ones) on 9, 25 and 120 leaving no doubt that Bangladesh have a long way to go to become a fully confident Test batting unit. The three early wickets they lost also suggested the same. They were at a virtual standstill with Imrul Kayes and Liton Das finding it hard to get scoring opportunities in the first 11.1 overs. Imrul got out to a fine delivery but Liton and then Mohammad Mithun played poor shots after struggling to get the ball off the square.
These were silly mistakes that could have cost Bangladesh heavily. Instead, through the Mushfiqur-Mominul record fourth-wicket stand, the home side have a stronger foothold in the contest.
