A persevering Hondo sent the home side reeling on 169-8 at stumps with a career-best 6-45 after his captain Tatenda Taibu hit a brave unbeaten 85 in what promised to be a crucial first-innings total of 298 on a rapidly deteriorating wicket.

For Bangladesh it was a familiar batting collapse after a perfect first Test in Chittagong, which they won last week by 226 runs for their maiden Test triumph.

Bangladeshi batsmen put up a pathetic display to spoil a good start followed by a fantastic feat by young left-arm spinner Enamul Haque. The 18-year-old finished with 7-95 to become the youngest bowler to take seven wickets surpassing former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis. Enamul, who took the last three Zimbabwe wickets on Saturday after bagging four on the first day, is also the only Bangladeshi bowler to take seven wickets in an innings.

The Tigers now face a monumental task of saving the match when Mashrafee-Bin-Mortuza (4) and Tapash Baisya, yet to score, resume the innings today still 129 runs in arrears.

Bangladesh however started brightly with Nafees Iqbal (28) and Javed Omar (34) producing 58 runs for opening stand.

But once Hondo, introduced into the attack as first change in the 11th over, made the breakthrough by having Javed caught behind Bangladesh's innings fell like a pack of cards. In his uninterrupted 17-over spell either side of the tea-break, Hondo used his in-swingers and occasional reverse swing with supreme control to finish with a richly deserved maiden five-wicket haul.

The 25-year-old had Mohammad Ashraful (5) trapped leg before and then clean bowled Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar (10) before having Aftab Ahmed (0) brilliantly caught at mid-wicket and got rid of wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud (0) with an yorker.

Bangladesh slumped to 107-6 before Mohammad Rafique salvaged some sanity with a typically entertaining 56 off 79 balls. His second half-century contained seven fours and a mighty six against leg-spinner Graeme Cremer.

Rajin Saleh (24) was the other Bangladeshi batsmen to offer some resistance.

Earlier, resuming the day on 244-6, Zimbabwe added just 54 runs before being bowled out 20 minutes before lunch with Taibu hitting nine fours in his undefeated 218-ball knock.