Bangladesh snapped out of their losing streak as they brushed aside a hapless Zimbabwe side to save face as they avoided a 3-0 humbling against a resurgent Zimbabwe. Anamul Haque and Afif Hossain played fine knocks to prop Bangladesh up to a score of 256.
Zimbabwe, without skipper Regis Chakabva, who would have expected their batting line-up to pull off the chase after the events of the previous games, failed miserably, ultimately losing by a massive margin of 105 runs, but nevertheless walked away with the series win. Sikandar Raza, who has been in imperious form in recent weeks, was unable to save his side on this occasion.
In the absence of skipper Chakabva, Raza was handed the reins of the side, following which the right-hander won the toss and decided to bowl first at the Harare Sports Club. Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal looked in decent touch as his side got off to a decent start. All the good work, however, was undone in the matter of a few minutes, as Iqbal, Najmul Shanto, and Mushfiqur Rahim were all dismissed in the space of seven balls.
Haque and Mahmudullah were tasked with the responsibility of rebuilding the innings, which they did to good effect. Following Mahmudullah’s dismissal, it was Hossain who really gave Bangladesh the sort of innings that was required, scoring a fine unbeaten 85 off 81 balls to guide his side to a score of 256.
In response, Zimbabwe’s innings was nothing short of an absolute horror show, as the hosts were reduced to 31/5 within the opening ten overs. Ebadot Hossain was the star of the show for the visitors, picking up Raza for a golden duck. Raza’s dismissal really broke the back of the Zimbabwe innings, as any hopes of a comeback were essentially killed.
It only went downhill from then on, before tail-enders Richard Ngarva and Victor Nyauchi ironically played the best innings of the Zimbabwe innings, as Bangladesh wrapped up a 105-run victory. Raza was the undisputed winner of the man of the series award for his two magnificent centuries in the previous games.
Brief scores
Bangladesh 256/9 in 50 overs (Hossain 85*; Haque 76; Jongwe 2/38) beat Zimbabwe 151 (Ngarva 34*; Nyauchi 26: Rahman 4/17) by 105 runs.
