Ban v Zim 1st T20I Review: A strong comeback sees the home team through

Bangladesh came back strongly to win the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Khulna. The visitors suffered a middle-order collapse which left them with a much lower score than they had hoped for, and the home side eventually gunned down their target of 164 with eight deliveries to spare.

Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to bat first on a good batting surface. Their openers Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza gave them a superb start by adding 47 in the power play. The two batted sensibly and didn’t miss out on any opportunity to put the bad balls away. Sibanda was the first to be dismissed but not before making 46 off 39 balls including 4 fours and 2 sixes. At the end of 12 overs, the visitors were 101/1 and looking in pole position to get many more.

Masakadza soon completed his fifty and continued batting freely. He was joined by Malcolm Waller who started well but was run out for 14 off 8 balls featuring 2 boundaries. Another run out was the big wicket of Masakadza who made 79 off 53 balls that included 9 fours and 2 sixes. From this moment onwards, everything went downhill for Zimbabwe as they lost their way and eventually finished on 163/7. Mustafizur Rahman bowled a brilliant spell of 2/18 from 4 while Al-Amin Hossain was equally impressive in his 4-over spell of 2/24.

Soumya Sarkar was Bangladesh’s first wicket, running himself out after a horrendous mix-up with Tamim Iqbal, with both batsmen ending up in the striker’s end after Tamim had whipped a ball to short fine-leg. Tamim was soon dismissed, in the seventh over, having struck three fours and a six in his 24-ball 29 which featured a good start but a tame ending.

Bangladesh were nearly at par with Zimbabwe in the ten-over mark but had a set Sabbir Rahman, sent to bat at No 3. Sabbir was dropped on 36 when Vusi Sibanda failed to claim a catch at long-on in the 12th over. He struck a clean blow over midwicket for six before giving a catch to deep midwicket off the next ball, falling for a 36-ball 46. Shuvagata Hom, one of two debutants for Bangladesh, fell for 6 when a Sean Williams delivery spun past his bat to knock off the off-bail.

When Mahmudullah was the sixth batsman to fall in the 17th over of the home team’s chase, Shakib Al Hasan had debutant Nurul Hasan to steer the hosts to score the remaining 27 runs in 3.1 overs. Brian Vitori then leaked 14 runs off an over, including a four off a Nurul scoop, and five wides down the leg-side.

In the penultimate over, Shakib struck two fours, the first edged through third-man and the next a cool flick over square-leg, before Luke Jongwe bowled a horrible wide that flew past the wicketkeeper for a boundary, completing the victory. For Zimbabwe Wellington Masakadza bowled a good spell finishing with figures of 1/25 from 4 while Cremer took 2 wickets and conceded 32 in his 4 overs.

Brief Scores:

Zimbabwe: 163/7 in 20 overs (H Masakadza 79; M Rahman 2/18)

Bangladesh: 166/6 in 18.4 overs (S Rahman 46; Cremer 2/32)

Man of the match:  H Masakadza (Zimbabwe)