In a shocking turn of events, Bangladesh have had an extremely tough time in the Zimbabwe series. The hosts, who were not even considered favorites at the start of the tour, went on to win both the T20I and the ODI series by a 2-1 margin. Courtesy of a scintillating run from Sikandar Raza, Zimbabwe were able to outshine the visitors in the ODI series. In a remarkable comeback, Bangladesh have avoided a clean sweep so far but they have a lot of things to improve before this year’s ICC T20I World Cup and next year’s ICC ODI World Cup.
The hosts won the toss and invited Bangladesh to bat first. Tamim Iqbal Failed to make any notable contribution and was dismissed for 19 runs off 30 balls. Anamul Haque steadied his team’s ship and guided them through the tough times of the game. Haque scored 76 runs in 71 balls at a strike rate of 107.04. During this he hit 6 fours and 4 sixes. Bangladesh suffered a minor setback from Najmul Hossain Shanto Mushfiqur Rahim fast departure. Mahmudullah: Joined with Anamul and they shared a partnership of 77 runs. Bangladesh batsman Afif Hossain got out with some serious intention and he scored 85 runs in 81 balls with the help of 6 fours and 2 sixes. The lower order could not score any impressive runs and Bangladesh managed to score just 256/9 at the end of 50 overs.
Continuing with their golden runs and Sikandar Raza’s red hot form, the hosts were expected to chase down the target, but Bangladesh bowlers were extremely careful with the ball as they struck both openers Takudzwanase Kaitano and Tadiwanashe. Marumani for 0 and 1 respectively. Centurion Masoom Kaia was also dismissed for 10 in the first match, in which he scored 22 runs. All eyes were on Sikandar Raza, who was expected to make a show, but Abadot Hossain dismissed him in the very first ball and his stump work was disrupted. Zimbabwe’s batting could not recover from this and was reduced to 151 runs.
Zimbabwe had already won the series in the second ODI and were looking for a clean sweep, but the Bangladesh bowlers were spot on with their plans and execution, which deprived Zimbabwe of the result they were looking for.
Bangladesh Playing XI: Tamim Iqbal (c), Anamul Haque, Najmul Hussain Shanto, Mushfiqur Rahim (w), Mahmudullah, Afif Hussain, Mehdi hasan Miraj, Taijul Islam, Ebadot Hussain, Hassan Mahmood, Mustafizur Rahman
Zimbabwe Playing XI: Tadiwanase Marumani, Takudzwanase Kaitano, Innocent Kaya, Wesley Madhevere, Sikandar Raza (c), Clive Madande (wk), Tony Munyonga, Luke Jongwe, Brad Evans, Victor Nyuchi, Richard Ngarwa