The final day was supposed to offer a tame finish after Zimbabwe, resuming on 384-2, continued to bat unlit lunch before declaring on 522 with overnight batsmen Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor remaining not out on 92 and 77 respectively.

That left the home side needing to wipe out a first innings deficit of 206 in the remaining 63 overs of the day's play. The task should have been a relatively easy one after the BCB XI's good showing in their first innings, where they scored 316-7 declared.

But that was not the case as Rajin Saleh's men crashed to 83-5 before Al Shahriar came and played a characteristically aggressive innings.

Coming into bat at number seven, a position quite unfamiliar for the one-time Bangladesh opener, Al Shahriar struck a blazing 118 not out off 114 balls studded with 18 glorious boundaries and four mighty sixes to help BCB XI eventually finish on 197-7.

Unwillingly unaware that his team had further slumped to 125-7, the right-hander continued his barrage of strokes to all corners of the park. His composed hundred was testimony to the class of a bats man, who remained an enigma in Bangladesh cricket.

Shahriar reached his fifty in just 28 balls hitting three over boundaries and seven fours and he took only 25 minutes to do that. He was a bit cautious from fifty onwards. The magical three figures came off 99 balls, containing another 11 savage hits across the fence and a six.

Along the way he got valuable support from first Mushfiqur Rahim (14) with whom Shahriar added 68 runs for the sixth wicket. He then put on a priceless 72-runs for the unbroken eighth wicket with Tareq Aziz Khan (10) to script an exciting finish.

Captain Rajin Saleh termed Al Shahriar's innings as a remarkable one in the context of the game.

"Rokon (Al Shahriar) played exceptionally well and in fact saved us from a certain defeat," Rajin told reporters after the match.

He however admitted that he should not have declared on the first day.

"I declared with a hope that my bowlers could get some wickets before the end of first day's play, but it didn't pay off," he said.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe skipper Tatendu Taibu was more than satisfied that his top batsmen had scored runs before the first Test on January 6 at the MA Aziz Stadium.

"It is good to see batsmen like Matsikenyeri, Rogers, Sibanda, Masakadza and Taylor getting runs ahead of Test match."

Taibu called the match a close one but said, "It was tough to bowl them (BCB) out in 60-odd overs."

"Yet, one thing is clear that we took a psychological advantage from here and this will definitely inspire us in the first Test."

The Zimbabwean captain believed that his team would surely win the Test if they can carry on the performance showed here in the three-dayer.