Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: 1st ODI Review: ‘The show of the Bengal Tigers’
Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: 1st ODI Review: ‘The show of the Bengal Tigers’: It was just around an year back when Zimbabwe last toured Bangladesh, who were then the ninth-ranked team. But sadly, the tour didn’t go as planned, well for the Zimbabweans as Bangladesh convincingly had whitewashed them, 5-0. This series was just the beginning as they went on to win series against giants like Pakistan, India and even South Africa.
But now Zimbabwe are like a new shoot, with confidence to regain back lost pride for their country and they showed that power while they won against the BCB XI. But yet again, like the history showed, Zimbabwe lost the first match of the series.
Bangladesh batted really well, led by Mushfiqur Rahim’s century in scoring a total of 273/9. It was a challenging total for Zimbabwe from the beginning and struggled through out and got bundled out for 128 and Zimbabwe lost to Bangladesh by 145 runs comprehensively.
The Bangladeshis didn’t have the best of the starts in the Sher-e-Bangla stadium with them losing the toss to Zimbabwe who put them into bat. Also they lost their opener Liton Das to Jongwe, who departed for a duck with just four on the board. It was a great catch by Graeme Cremer at backward point to send him back to the pavilion.
Mahmudullah walked in to support Tamim Iqbal who started scoring from the word go. Mahmudullah looked like he was there to stay when he drived past the covers for a four but fell to Panyangara with an inducker and got bowled. But from there on, both Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim, had a much needed 70 run partnership and kept the scoreboard ticking. Tamim made a solid 40 and with 5 boundaries before he fell to Raza. Mushfiqur Rahim then guided Bangladesh to 200 by scoring his fourth ODI century including 9 fours and a six and showed his class before he ran himself out. Sabbir Rahman also played his part by scoring a well made 57 in just 58 balls. The tail enders Mortaza and Sunny played an important role by hitting quick fire knocks to take the team past 250.
The Zimbabwe bowlers Jongwe and Panyangara took two early wickets after which Sikandar Raza took two important scalps of the dangerous Tamim Iqbal and the consistent Shakib al Hasan. Then Taurai Muzarabani also took two wickets of Hossain and Mortaza. The fielding was decent with three run outs to end the Bangladesh innings but the form of the wicketkeeper is a concern to the captain.
The second innings began slowly for the Zimbabweans where they scored 43/1 in the first ten overs. Mustafizur Rahman has been bowling splendidly leaving the batsmen clueless. Luke Jongwe cleared the fence for the first time in the innings. Chibabha who played a slow 9 of 22 balls was the first wicket to fall for the African nation after this CR Ervine was struggling fell to Shakib al Hasan for two. In the next over itself, Jongwe who seemed dangerous fell for 39 to Al-Amin Hossain which included a massive six and four fours. But even though the top order had kept the scoreboard kept ticking, the wickets kept falling handing the victory gradually to Bangladesh. Later on wickets just kept tumbling with Elton Chigumbura on the other side trying to play a face-saving knock for the Zimbabweans. He also today became only the 6th cricketer from Zimbabwe to reach 4000 ODI runs.
After Cremer who scored 15 and cleaned up as the seventh wicket by Shakib, it was all but over by the Zimbabweans. The last wicket to fall was the best batsman for Zimbabwe, was Elton Chigumbura who played a strong 41 with the team’s score reading 128. Zimbabwe’s batting failed with just a few small knocks here and there. They were unable to read Bangladesh’s bowling and must buck up and work hard before the 2nd ODI. To add to Zimbabwe’s woes, Mutumbami has ankle edema and needs seven days to recover.
Shakib al Hasan took his maiden five-wicket haul. He reaped his rewards just by excellent bowling. Mortaza and Nasir picked up two wickets each with a wicket to Hossain. Except for a few fielding errors, Bangladesh knew what to expect, how to bat and where to bowl.
Shakib al Hasan, the highest wicket taker said, “I thought there was a little bit for spinners. I put the ball in the right areas and I was lucky. I believe in luck but I had to work hard. I know I had to contribute in two departments. Playing at home is a big advantage. We have showed our improvement to our world.”
In the end,Bangladesh won the match by 145 runs and Zimbabwe will be looking for some confidence to shine again.
Brief Scores:
Bangladesh: 273-9 (Mushfiqur Rahim 107, Sabbir Rahman 57, Sikandar Raza 47/2, Taurai Muzarabani 64/2)
Zimbabwe: 128 (Elton Chigumbura 41, Luke Jongwe 39, Shakib Al Hasan 47/5, Mashrafe Mortaza 13/2)
Man of the Match: Shakib Al Hasan
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