Zimbabwe victory still possible - Raza

Taking eight wickets in two sessions and seeing out the last 24 overs of the second day would have been pleasing for Zimbabwe. After losing an early wicket, the unbeaten batsmen, Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza, dominated the Bangladesh bowlers towards the end. But the bottom line remains that Zimbabwe are 390 runs behind Bangladesh's 503.

Raza knows it all too well and is prepared to dig in deep in the third morning. How to go about this job has been shown by the Bangladesh batsmen, who have demonstrated an overall consistency in the last couple of weeks. Raza remains hopeful of a massive turnaround in the game, as every Zimbabwe player should, but Bangladesh have only lost one Test match after scoring more than 500 runs in the first innings.

"I do see a result in this game," Raza said. "It has to go our way. We are definitely playing as though we want to win this game. For that to happen we have to bat out of our socks. Hopefully as the days go on and the ball starts to creep low then you never know. Coming into today, they were 303 for two. No one would have thought they would have been 500-odd all out. Having said that, the last partnership had 50-odd runs on the board so if you take that away it could have been 460. We will keep believing.

"I think Bangladesh were hoping for a few more wickets then they had. We will definitely take the confidence from 113 for one. We will take the last session as well. We have toiled hard under the sun and I think the correct way has been shown to us by Bangladesh. They have done it so consistently. To me it is just a matter of time to start clicking, hopefully we can take the momentum ahead in the next day and the day after."

Raza hit all his boundaries in the second session in front of the wicket. He drove through the covers at the start of his innings against Shafiul Islam and pulled Rubel Hossain quite easily. However what would please him was his proper use of his feet. He charged Taijul Islam and Shakib Al Hasan at every opportunity, and even when it didn't come off, he could at least get the ball away as he had thrown his body behind the it.

On the third day, he said he will have to bat with more savvy about the pitch and bowling as he expects the ball to start keeping low.

"There as a basic plan but the thing is there are things I work hard in the nets when it comes to the game. You don't really say anything to yourself, you just see and play accordingly. On a track that I thought wasn't turning, using my feet is part of the plan. The plan will be to see ball and hit ball. I don't think anything needs to change for tomorrow. My instincts will be slightly to bat smarter, and take where it can take me.

"As the sun beats down on the surface, and as the players run on the tracks there will definitely be [breaking in the pitch]. There already are a few cracks and some are actually creeping low and some are bouncing low. I expect it to play slightly differently tomorrow."