Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. They lost Soumya Sarkar early for a duck. Litton Das gave his wicket away as he fell for 14 runs. It was the Nazmul Hossain Shanto show today. He battled a hamstring issue but went onto score71 off 55 balls, registering his maiden T20I fifty.
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Shanto held the innings together. Crucial contributions from Shakib Al Hasan (23 off 20) and Afif Hossain (29 off 19) took Bangladesh to 150/7.
It was an average day with the ball for Zimbabwe. Blessing Muzarabani bowled only two overs and picked up a couple of wickets. Why he bowled only two overs was beyond anyone. A couple of wickets for Richard Ngarava. A wicket apiece for Sikander Raza and Sean Williams.
Chasing a stiff target of 151 for the win, Zimbabwe were blown away inside the powerplay. They lost their top order inside the powerplay including Sikander Raza for a duck. Regis Chakabva scored 15 runs. But it was Sean Williams who held the innings together with his brilliant 64 off 42 balls. He was taking the game away from Bangladesh before the Bangladeshi skipper took matters into his own hands to run him out.
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Zimbabwe were dead and buried, but they did well to come back in the contest and almost win the game in the end. But it was not to be. They fell 3 runs short to finish with 147/8 with 13 extras that were given by the Bangladeshi bowlers.
Taskin Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for Bangladesh as he had figures of 3/19 in 4 overs. He was ably supported by Mustafizur Rahman as he was impressive in his 2/15 off 4 overs. A couple of wickets for Mosaddek Hossain as he bowled the crucial final over, held his nerve and took Bangladesh over the line.
Bangladesh v Zimbabwe: Player of the Match Comments
Taskin Ahmed (Player of the Match): We were nervous in the middle after that last ball (no-ball). I’ve seen something like that for the first time. Just focusing on improving and giving my best. Back home we play on slow wickets, and here we get early movement and help off the track as well. Got a good bunch of fast bowling group, we support each other and working hard to improve ourselves. We get great support from our bowling coach (Allan Donald) and all the other support staff. We got a good group and hopefully improve more.
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