Bangladesh secured the Zimbabwe series beating their African counterparts in the third of the five-match T20 international series with a nine-run victory at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Tuesday.
The Tigers were ahead in the series by winning the first two matches and they again defeated the Rhodesians to confirm the series with two matches in hand.
Chasing the target of 166, Zimbabwe started losing wickets early but a resilient 34 from Faraz Akram led them over the 150 mark, but it was not enough for them to make a comeback in the series.
Mohammad Saifuddin struck the first blow on Zimbabwe as he picked the wicket of opener Joylord Gumbie when he mistimed his shot trying to pull and Mahmudullah Riyad took the catch in the third man area. Gumbie returned after scoring 9 off 8.
Tanzim Hasan Sakib sent off Brian Bennett with a brilliant caught and bowled and the Chevrons were down to 24-2 at that time.
Veteran Craig Ervine also failed to make an impact in the third wicket as Saifuddin bowled him in the last ball of the powerplay on 7 of 7. Zimbabwe managed only 33-3 in the powerplay.
Skipper Sikandar Raza was sent off by Rishad Hossain on 1 off 5 where Jaker Ali took an easy catch behind the stamp.
No one could bat with responsibility in the middle order for the Chevrons. Jonathan Campbell-Wellington Masakadza settled down but could not extend the innings.
At one point, Zimbabwe were down to 91-8 and the game seemed to be progressing one-sidedly. Faraz Akram then took charge and helped his side play the entire 20 overs even though he could not win it for them. The batter played an unbeaten 34 off just 19.
Zimbabwe managed 156-9 in their 20 overs and fell nine runs too short.
Earlier, Bangladesh, being sent to bat first, managed 165-5 courtesy of Towhid Hridoy’s 57 off just 38 balls.
However, Bangladesh struggled early in their innings as well when Liton Das and skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto seemingly gave away their wickets within the first five overs just to escalate the pressure on the middle order as the Tigers were down to 29-2.
Opener Tanzid Hasan Tamim, who made his T20 international debut earlier this series, partnered with Hridoy to bring Bangladesh back into the match.
After Tamim was out on 21, Hridoy and Jaker Ali Anik kept the scores rolling as the duo made 87 runs together. A quick nine off four from Mahmudullah Riyad at the end took Bangladesh to 165-5.
Bangladesh will play Zimbabwe in the fourth T20 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on Friday.
