Bangladesh humble Zimbabwe
24 January, 2018
Mashrafe and Shakib played the lead roles to bundle Zimbabwe out for 125.
A Shakib Al Hasan inspired Bangladesh bundled Zimbabwe out for 125 to net a 91-run victory in their tri-nation series match on Tuesday.
Chasing 217, the Zimbabwe batting was pinned back from the beginnng, as Bangladesh bowlers gave them almost no chance.
Barring Sikandar Raza's 39 and skipper Graeme Cremer's 23, no Zimbabwe batsmen offered any meaningful resistance as the hosts wrapped up yet another facile victory.
Shakib, who had hit a fifty with the bat, was the wrecker-in-chief with three wickets while captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman and Sunzamul Islam grabbed two wickets each.
Earlier, Graeme Cremer and Kyle Jarvis helped Zimbabwe restrict the Tigers to 216 for 9.
The hosts were 147 for 2 in the 35th over, but captain Cremer removed one batsman in each of his next three overs to contain the hosts' run surge. And help from Jarvis ensured the Tigers cannot build on the platform set by Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan.
Choosing to bat first, Bangladesh did not have the best of the starts, Jarvis sending opener Anamul Haque, who could manage only one, to the pavillion in the third over.
Tamim and Shakib then made 106 in the second wicket to put the hosts in a good position. Shakib departed after making 51 off 80 balls while in-form Tamim hit his third consecutive fifty. Tamim's 76 came in 105 balls and the innings took him past Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya in the chart of scoring the highest number of runs on a certain ground.
Till date, Jayasuriya's 2514 scored in Colombo was the highest, but Tamim has now set a new record, his 2549 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium sending him to the top.
However, he failed to turn a fifty into a hundred for the third game running and soon the collapse started.
It was number nine batsman Sunzamul Islam's 19 and number ten batsman Mustafizur Rahman's 18 that helped the hosts go beyond 200.
Cremer ended the day with four wickets to his name while Jarvis had three.
Tamim was adjudged the man-of-the-match. The hosts had already qualified for the final, while Sri Lanka now need to win their next game to reach the final. Even a loss will do, as long as the margin is slim and their run rate ends better than Zimbabwe. Or else, Bangladesh will meet Zimbabwe in the final.
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