Habibul was given to ensure his first series victory

They began day five on 98-0 in search of 374 and Habibul said: "We did think of victory, but thought a draw was a better option as we won the first Test.

"If we had not lost a couple of wickets in the second session we could have tried to go for the victory."

Rival skipper Tatenda Taibu said: "We are proud of the way the boys played."

The 21-year-old has experienced only one victory with the much-changed Zimbabwe team, against Bangladesh in February 2004.

Match report

"We had a chance on a deteriorating wicket with leg-spinnner [Graeme] Cremer in the side," he added.

"But they stuck it out, their spinners were more consistent than ours. We've improved a bit but still have a lot more to do."

I feel a drawn match is better than a win Dav Whatmore

Bangladesh opener Nafis Iqbal dedicated his watchful maiden century to his family and insisted that crease occupation was his main thought.

"I played each ball on merit, I didn't think of runs. My thought was to stay in for the team," he said.

Coach Dav Whatmore was delighted with the application shown by his batsmen to avert the threat of a Zimbabwean victory.

"I feel a drawn match was better than a win," he said.

"The team didn't bat well in the first innings, but were committed to putting things right in the second.

"Chasing a large total, they batted well on a wearing pitch when taking risks is harder.

"We were leading, they had to catch us - we kept that in mind."

Whatmore also had praise for 18-year-old slow left-arm spinner Enamul Haque jr, who captured 12 wickets in the match and was named Man-of-the-Series.

"Enamul's exploits didn't surprise me," he said. "I knew he had potential, and we've got a little gem on our hands."