Bangladesh Suffer Humiliating Defeat to Zimbabwe

Bangladesh lost to Zimbabwe by a huge margin of 99 runs in the opening match of the tri-nation series at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Chasing 272 runs, the red-green representatives suffered a terrible batting disaster after Tanjid Hasan Tamim’s aggressive start and were bundled out for 172 runs. This miserable loss complicated the equation of reaching the final for the team.

Earlier, Zimbabwe lost the toss and opted to bowl, losing 3 wickets for 24 runs with Taskin Ahmed’s batting. However, they managed to overcome the 150-run stand of Craig Ervine (93) and Brendan Taylor (81) for the fourth wicket to post a solid total of 271 for 8 in their allotted 50 overs. Taskin took 3 wickets for 44 runs and Shariful Islam took 2 wickets for 47 runs.

In reply, the opening pair of Tanjid and Soumya Sarkar quickly raised hopes by scoring 47 runs. However, the collapse began with the departure of Soumya in the seventh over. Tanjid, despite getting several chances with the help of luck, returned to score 46 runs in 38 balls. Then captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto, acting captain Towhid Hridoy and Mosaddek Hossain were caught LBW while playing on the backfoot. Bangladesh lost wickets at regular intervals and at one stage lost 8 wickets for 129 runs.

Zimbabwe’s Brad Evans collapsed with 4 wickets for 45 runs. Although the margin of defeat was reduced somewhat towards the end thanks to the tail-enders, the picture of Bangladesh’s continuous misery in ODIs was once again clearly visible in this match.