Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi Hasan Miraz knows all too well how much harder international cricket becomes with experience. The more matches one plays, the more the game evolves -- and the more opponents adapt.

Miraz burst onto the scene in 2016, debuting in a two-match home Test series against England. Aged just 19, he made an instant impact, grabbing 19 wickets and notching up three five-wicket hauls in his first four innings.

By 2018, the off-spinner had already taken seven five-fors in just 18 Tests, becoming the fastest Bangladeshi to reach 50 Test wickets. He repeated similar feats while getting to 100 and 150 wickets. But his journey to 200 is proving tougher -- fellow spinner Taijul Islam reached the mark in 85 innings, whereas Miraz has already bowled in 90.

As time went on, the wickets didn't come as easily. Opposing teams started to study him more closely, identifying his weaknesses through video analysis. What was once routine -- taking five wickets in an innings -- proved to be increasingly rare.

Over the past six years, Miraz has managed the feat only four times in 32 matches. The latest came in Sylhet on Monday, where his 5-52 helped Bangladesh bundle out Zimbabwe for 273 in their first innings.

"When someone debuts in international cricket, people have no idea about him. But once he plays many matches in one or two years, people start to get to know about him," Miraz told reporters on Monday, after the end of the second day's play.

"There is video footage from where people identify [player's] weaknesses… If you don't improve, it's difficult to survive here because world-class players play here.

"Zimbabwe are not giving us space to score runs easily, while we are also not taking wickets easily," opined the 27-year-old, whose previous five-for at home came in 2022, although his last one overall was in Rawalpindi against Pakistan last year.

In recent years, Miraz has also stepped up with the bat, evolving into a dependable lower-order contributor. In 2024, he scored 614 runs in 10 Tests -- the highest for Bangladesh in red-ball cricket -- while also leading the wicket charts with 31 scalps.

With Shakib Al Hasan no longer a regular feature in the Test side, many see Miraz as the natural successor. And he's embracing dual responsibility.

"In the last two to three years, I focused on my batting and have done well. I think I must keep balancing both," he said, further recalling how he started out purely as a bowler and batted down at number eight for much of his career.

Despite trailing by 25 runs at stumps on day two, Miraz remains confident about Bangladesh's position in the Test.

"I still think the match is in our control. They may have got a lead of 82 runs, and we are now 25 runs behind. As we have just lost one wicket and we have good batters, if we can give them a good total, it will be a challenge for them on day four," he concluded.