Bangladesh lost the ODI series to Zimbabwe

Sports Desk

Despite a pair of half-centuries from Towhid Hridoy and Tanjid Hasan Tamim, Bangladesh lost the second ODI to Zimbabwe by 13 runs. The loss means Mehedi Hasan Miraz’s team is eliminated from the three-match series with one match remaining.

Earlier, Nazmul Hasan Shantara lost the Test series to the hosts by an innings.

Chasing a target of 248, Towhid Hridoy scored 60 off 90 balls and Tanjid Tamim scored 57 off 70 balls to put Bangladesh in a comfortable position. Nurul Hasan Sohan added a vital 38 runs, but after he was dismissed by captain Richard Ngaravar (3-55), the visitors lost their last four wickets for just 15 runs. As a result, Bangladesh were bowled out for 234 in 48.1 overs.

Mehidy Hasan Miraz scored 27 runs at number seven, but Bangladesh’s hopes of winning were dashed when he was dismissed by Ngaravar in the penultimate over. With this, Zimbabwe secured their second consecutive ODI series win against Bangladesh. They had previously won the series 2-1 in 2022.

Earlier, Zimbabwe, who had lost the toss and elected to bat, were under pressure at 148 for 6 in the 37th over. However, opener Ben Curran played an unbeaten innings of 111 off 135 balls and Brad Evans scored a career-best 58 not out off just 38 balls. The pair added an unbroken 99 runs off just 79 balls to take Zimbabwe to 247.

Curran’s innings featured 9 fours, while Evans hit 2 fours and 5 sixes. Out of these, he hit 3 sixes and 1 four in the last over of Taskin Ahmed.

Taskin got Bangladesh off to a great start in his first two overs, dismissing Brian Bennett for a duck and Innocent Kaia for 4. Nahid Rana then bowled Craig Ervin for 9.

Miraz then dismissed Wesley Madhavre for 15 to take Zimbabwe to 66 for 4. From there, Karan and Sikandar Raja (33) put on a 68-run stand for the fifth wicket to take control of the innings.

Miraj and Rishad Hossain took one wicket each to take Zimbabwe to 6 for 148. However, Curran’s second ODI century and Evans’ late knock gave the hosts a competitive edge.

In reply, Bangladesh batted first and were reduced to 38 for 2 after losing Soumya Sarkar (5) and Nazmul Hossain Shanto (9). Tanjid and Hridoy then added 84 runs for the third wicket.

After Tanjid departed after scoring his eighth half-century of his ODI career, Hridoy and Nurul put on another effective 47-run stand for the fourth wicket. However, after Hridoy’s dismissal, Bangladesh continued to lose wickets at regular intervals and failed to even bowl out the full 50 overs.

Along with Ngarawar’s 3 wickets, Blessing Mujarabani and Brad Evans took 2 wickets each.

Bangladesh had earlier lost the first ODI match of the series by 25 runs. The third and final match of the series will be held at the same venue next Saturday, which has now become a mere rule-based match.