Tigers find consolation win

Bangladesh managed a consolation win in the third and final One-Day International of their three-match series against Zimbabwe after beating the hosts by 105 runs in Harare on Wednesday.

Bangladesh had already lost the series after losing the first two matches, and this win brought the deficit down to 2-1.

This was Bangladesh's 400th ODI, and they managed to avoid a clean sweep in it.

After losing the toss for a third consecutive time, Bangladesh batted first again and put 256-9 on the board, courtesy of an unbeaten 85 from Afif Hossain and 76 from opener Anamul Haque.

In reply, the hosts lost half of their side within the powerplay and were never in the chase and were set to lose by a huge margin. But a 68-run stand between Richard Ngarava and Victor Nyauchi for the 10th wicket frustrated Bangladesh before Mustafizur Rahman rattled Nyauchi’s stumps to bowl them out for 151.

Mustafizur was the pick of the Bangladesh bowlers as he picked up four wickets. Debutant Ebadot Hossain and Taijul Islam picked up two each, while Hasan Mahmud and Mehidy Hasan Miraz picked up one each.

Batting first, the Tigers got off to a steady start as Tamim Iqbal and Anamul put together 41 runs in 51 deliveries. The stand broke when miscommunication between the openers led to Tamim being run out for 19 off 30 balls.

In the 11th over, Brad Evans dealt a double blow to dismiss Najmul Hossain Shanto (0) and Mushfiqur Rahim (0), who were both chasing wide deliveries. Najmul hit a wide and short delivery straight to Wessly Madhevere at point, and then Mushfiqur tried to send another wide delivery to the boundary but Richard Ngarava took a brilliant catch running in from third man to send him back for a duck.

While Anamul was fluent at one end, Mahmudullah Riyad struggled at the other from the very start. Anamul reached his fifty off 48 balls and before being caught behind off Luke Jongwe’s bowling, scored 76 off 71 deliveries, hitting six fours and four sixes.

Afif then came in, and despite him playing at a good speed, Mahmudullah struggled. His struggles finally ended in 35th over as he dragged a delivery from outside off stump to see his stumps rattled and returned scoring 39 runs off 69 deliveries.

But Afif stayed unbeaten till the end and scored his second-best ODI score to take Bangladesh to 256-9.

In reply, Zimbabwe were rattled early on as Mahmud trapped Takudzwanashe Kaitano (0) LBW in the first over.

In the next over, Tadiwanashe Marumani (1) charged down the pitch to try and hit Miraz out of the park but only missed the delivery to see his stumps rattled.

And in the sixth over, Ebadot, who debuted in this match as Bangladesh’s 139th ODI player, dealt a double blow to reduce the hosts to 18-4.

First, a delivery with extra bounce found the shoulder of Madhevere’s (1) bat and Miraz took an easy catch at point.

In the next delivery, Ebadot bowled a ripping yorker to dismiss Sikandar Raza (0), who had been the hero for the hosts in the series thus far.

Taijul trapped Innocent Kaia (10) LBW with an arm-ball in the ninth over, and then Tony Munyonga (13) was stumped off the left-arm spinner’s bowling in the 14th.

Luke Jongwe (15) tried to clear the boundary off Mustafiz’s bowling but only found Anamul in the deep. Mustafiz then picked up two more as Clive Madande and Brad Evans.