Bangladesh also defeated by Zimbabwe in T20I

Despite a career-best half-century from Yasir Ali and brilliant bowling from Nahid Rana, Bangladesh failed to win against Zimbabwe. Hosts Zimbabwe defeated Bangladesh by 32 runs in the first match of the three-match T20 series held at the Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

After losing the toss, Zimbabwe’s two openers, Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani, got off to a great start. They added 37 runs in the opening partnership. Nahid Rana gave Bangladesh their first breakthrough by removing Marumani (14). However, Bennett continued to bat aggressively at the other end. He also fell short of a run after playing a target-breaking innings of 44 runs off 30 balls.

Then, Mohammad Saifuddin’s double strike quickly dismissed Dion Myers and captain Sikandar Raja, putting the hosts under pressure. Nahid Rana put Zimbabwe in a further corner by removing Milton Shumba and Tashinga Musekiwa in the 18th over.

However, in the end, an unbroken 31-run stand by Ryan Burle and Brad Evans gave Zimbabwe a fighting total of 170 runs. Burle made 30 runs off 25 balls, and Evans remained unbeaten on 19 runs off 10 balls. Nahid Rana took 4 wickets for just 8 runs in his first 3 overs, but lost 18 runs in the last over due to Evans’ aggressive batting. In the end, Rana left the field with his career-best bowling figures of 4-26 in T20Is. Saifuddin took 2 wickets for 35 runs.

Batting disaster while chasing runs

Batting at a target of 171, Bangladesh did not have a bad start. Openers Saif Hasan and Tanjid Hasan Tamim added 25 runs. However, Richard Ngarava’s double strike suddenly took the team out of the game. Saif was caught behind the wicket for 12 runs, a nd Tanjid became Ngarava’s second victim for 16 runs off 8 balls. Then Parvez Hossain Emon was dismissed for just 5 runs by Blessing Mujarabani, leaving Bangladesh reeling at 34 for 3.

Yasir Ali, who returned to the T20 team after almost three years, took charge of the team. He shared a 39-run partnership with acting captain Towhid Hridoy. But with the team trailing 73, Hridoy (14) was caught by Milton Schumber. When Nurul Hasan Sohan (3) was also run out, Bangladesh came under heavy pressure.

Yasir’s resistance and dramatic collapse

Yasir Ali fought with one end in front. He scored the first half-century of his T20 career in 33 balls. Yasir kept Bangladesh in the match with a 52-run partnership with Sheikh Mahedi Hasan. But the partnership was broken when Mahedi (19) was returned to Mujarabani in the 17th over.

Yasir’s resistance also collapsed in the next over. Yasir played his career-best 54 runs (38 balls, 2 fours and 3 sixes) before being caught while playing a shot off Ngarava.

After Yasir’s departure, Bangladesh’s batting line-up collapsed like a house of cards. Bangladesh lost their last 5 wickets by just 8 runs. As a result, Bangladesh were all out for 138 runs in 19 overs.

For Zimbabwe, Richard Ngarava took 4 wickets for 26 runs and Blessing Mujarabani took 4 wickets for just 17 runs, destroying the Bangladesh batting lineup.