Bangladesh v Zimbabwe 2nd T20I review: Zimbabwe clinch victory in a thrilling match

Bangladesh v Zimbabwe 2nd T20I review: Zimbabwe clinch victory in a thrilling match: This was the last match of Zimbabwe’s tour to Bangladesh and barring their victory against the Bangladesh XI, they’ve not been able to register a win to their name. For the first time Zimbabwe managed to bring a scare to the Bangladesh team and they looked to win this match from the word go. Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. They brought in Imrul Kayes and Arafat Sunny who replaced Litton Das and Jubair Hossain and Zimbabwe fielded an unchanged side. Only Bangladeshi who didn’t get a chance to play was Kamrul Islam Rabbi. The pitch remained hard and there was something in for the bowlers till the end of the match.

Tinashe Panyangara started the attack for Zimbabwe and looked menacing and the openers Imrul Kayes and Tamim Iqbal took the brunt of the onslaught. It was like Zimbabwe was here to win it. In the fourth over Madziva sent Tamim packing away with Chigumbura completing the catch. And in the very next over, his fellow opener Imrul Kayes followed him back as Sean Williams completed a good low catch to give Chisoro a wicket.

Zimbabwe started attacking with spin from both the ends with Chisoro and S Williams. Mushfiqur Rahim barring a good looking shot for four fell to Cremer just adding 9 to the board. Mushfiqur Rahim other than the first ODI hasn’t been in great form in the batting department and Bangladesh was just 59/3 in 9 overs. Sabbir Rahman and Anamul Haque then stuck to their ground and built a small partnership of 39 before Cremer chipped in with a wicket.

It was then a calculated knock of 47 by Anamul Haque that helped Bangladesh reach a total of 135/9. Only if he had support from the other end, the home team would’ve probably bettered their score and given the bowlers something to defend. The batting again didn’t find much success except for few starts and Anamul’s knock. Tinashe Panyangara was the best of the bowlers with 3 wickets to his name and Greg Cremer, Madziva and Chisoro shared 5 wickets between them. Cremer just gave away 21 runs in his four overs and picked up Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman. Zimbabwe would have fancied their chances of winning this match comfortably with a small target of 136 in their 20 overs

The visitors did everything right in their bowling but like they usually do, they messed up in the other facet. The batting collapsed right from the top. Sikandar Raza opened the innings with a firm four on the off-side but that was it. Pressure started mounting on the Zimbabwean camp early and Al-Amin Hossain grabbed two wickets of consecutive deliveries in the second over when he sent Raza and Sean Williams back to the pavilion. Chakabva fell to the building pressure as he edged a ball from Mustafizur Rahman and Sabbir Rahman completed the wicket.

Zimbabwe was reeling at 15/3 and the hosts were back in the game and were aiming for a ‘Banglawash’. Craig Ervine then got himself run out after a horrible mix-up with Luke Jongwe. It wasn’t the captain’s day either at the crease as he fell for a duck on the second ball he faced and Zimbabwe were down to 39 with 5 wickets gone when the player of the match from the 1^st T20I Malcolm Waller walked in to accompany Luke Jongwe to help Zimbabwe cross the line and take back home a victory on the Bangladeshi soil after 2 years.

Waller continued from where he had left 48 hours ago and looked dangerous. Both of them played good, consolidated knocks and were there at the crease when they needed 43 from the last 5. But Jongwe gave it away and Hossain picked up his third wicket for the day. But Waller didn’t give up and scored a boundary as soon as Jongwe left. But Madziva slowed the chase and the run rate went upto 12 but he covered it up with 2 boundaries of Al-Amin but still he failed Waller’s trust and left Zimbabwe needing 18 of the last over. They had an uphill task at the face but looked confident since Waller was on strike. He was dismissed for 40 and one would’ve thought Zimbabwe gave up the match with it. As we all know, a cricket match doesn’t end till the last ball, Neville Madziva smashed two sixes and a four and clinched a historic victory by 3 wickets and with one ball to spare and they leveled the series 1-1.

Madziva had won the game for his team and tears of joy rolled down his eyes. He was the hero of the game and a trusted name Nasir Hossain failed to defend 18 runs of his last over.

Al-Amin Hossain was the best bowler for the hosts with figures of 3/20 and Mustafizur Rahman, Arafat Sunny and Nasir Hossain chipping in with a wicket each. Malcolm Waller was the highest scorer in this series with 108 runs to his name and Tamim Iqbal with 52 runs was the highest run getter for his team. Al-Amin Hossain and Graeme Cremer were the highest wicket takers for their teams with 5 wickets each.

Zimbabwe takes back a lot of confidence and hopes back with them. Bangladesh would’ve been disappointed with their batting and failing to keep Zimbabwe from winning the game. A good end to the tour by the visitors and Bangladesh will go back to the dressing room and strategize for the series to come after the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).

Summary:

Bangladesh were restricted to a score of 135 by the Zimbabweans but Bangladesh took the visitors’ wickets early and looked to win the match but late innings by Jongwe and Malcolm Waller and an outburst by Neville Madziva won the match for them and they drew the series 1-1 and shared the series with the Bangladesh team in a historic result for them.

Brief Scores:

Bangladesh – 135/9 (Anamul Haque 47, Tamim Iqbal 21, Tinashe Panyangara 3/30, G Cremer 2/21)

Zimbabwe – 136/7 (Malcolm Waller 40, Luke Jongwe 34, Neville Madziva 28, Al-Amin Hossain 3/20, Mustafizur Rahman 1/12)

Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets.

Best Bangladeshi Performer (People’s choice): Al-Amin Hossain

Player of the Match: Neville Madziva

Player of the Series: Malcolm Waller