Mominul laments soft dismissals as Bangladesh fall behind on opening day

Bangladesh batter Mominul Haque felt 'it was not their day' as the visitors surrendered to Zimbabwe on the opening day of the one-off Test against at the Harare Sports Club on Sunday.

Bangladesh suffered a dramatic batting collapse losing eight wickets for just 27 runs as the hosts seized control. Bangladesh were bowled out for a modest 140 in 47.2 overs after being asked to bat first with Mominul top-scoring with a fluent 60 off 81 balls.

Zimbabwe reached 136-1 in 34 overs by Stumps, trailing by just four runs, with opener Innocent Kaia unbeaten on 76 and Brendan Taylor on 17.

"I think it was not our day," Mominul told reporters after the day's play at Harare.

"If you see, every dismissal was a bit of a soft dismissal. With the new ball they bowled very well but we did not execute our plan as well and most of the time it was a soft dismissal," he said.

"The first hour was a bit challenging because of the weather because it is winter and the bowlers got extra bounce with some swing and seam as well. Me and [Najmul] Shanto almost got a good partnership and the rest of the guys didn't execute their plan well," he said.

Mominul said that he was fine with four frontline bowlers in the playing XI but added that touring bowlers should learn from the hosts on the areas to bowl at.

Bangladesh, who are without the experienced Litton Das and all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz for the Test series, opted to play with seven batters and four bowlers, handing out debuts to wicketkeeper Amite Hasan and batter Towhid Hridoy.

"Our bowlers didn't bowl at the stumps...and that's why they gave away most of the runs. But if you see Zimbabwean bowlers they bowled in the right areas," he said, adding that they needed to dismiss Zimbabwe within another 100 runs if they are to make a game of it.

"I think they have gone far ahead of us...if we can dismiss them for another 100 runs, it will be good for us," he said.

Bangladesh ODI squad departs for Zimbabwe without Litton

Meanwhile, Litton Das failed to recover in time to travel with the ODI squad led by Mehidy Hasan Miraz that departed for Zimbabwe on Sunday.

It is understood Litton, who is now expected to join the squad in Harare on July 1, underwent a scan on Saturday after which doctors advised him a few more days' rest to complete his recovery fully. It remains to be seen whether he makes it for the series opener scheduled at the Harare Sports Club on July 6, with the next two games slated for July 9 and 11 respectively.

Litton will not play in the T20Is following the ODIs to fulfill his Lanka Premier League commitments.