Bangladesh VS Zimbabwe Played at Harare Cricket Stadium, Zimbabwe.
One Off Test Won By Bangladesh, 3 Matches ODI Series Bangladesh Won 3-0, Three Matches T20 Series Bangladesh Won 2-1
Brief Scorecard of the 3rd T20 Match played on 25th July 2021
Zimbabwe 193/5 in 20 Overs (Wesley Madhevere 54, Regis Chakava 48,Ryan Buri 31*, Tadiwanashe Marumani 27, Dion Meyers 23, Soumya Sarkar 2/19, Shakib Al Hasan 1/24, Shoriful Islam 1/27 )
Bangladesh 194/5 in 19.2 Overs (Soumya Sarkar 68, Mahmudullah Riad 34, Shamim Hossain 31*, Shakib Al Hasan 25,Blessing Muzarabani 2/27, Luke Jongwe 2/42)
Bangladesh Won the Match by 5 wickets.
Player Of The Match: Soumya Sarkar
Player Of The Series: Soumya Sarkar
Bangladesh Cricket team winning the close fought last match of the T20 international series by 5 Wickets completed a rare most successful Cricket tour in Zimbabwe. After winning the one off test convincingly, Bangladesh white washed the home team (3-0) in the 3 Matches ODI series. When Bangladesh won the first of the 3 matches T20 series comfortably by 8 wickets all thought that Bangladesh would achieve comprehensive white wash across all formats. But home team brilliantly fought back winning the 2nd match by 23 runs. In the third match also batting according to a plan on a flat wicket the put up a challenging score of 193/5. Determined Bangladesh playing matured cricket, riding on youthful exuberance of Soumya, Shamim, Afif and steered by Riad and Shakib won the exciting encounter by 5 wickets. Congratulations to each member of squad, coaching staff and team management.
Special congratulations to Ahmed Sajjadul Alam Bobby, the chief of the party, great motivator.
Looking back in retrospect we must admire the achievement as senior professional Mushfiqur Rahim for injury could hardly appear in the contest. Tamim played only in the ODI series , Mustafiz also played in few matches. Even Liton could not appear in the last two T20 matches. Flamboyant finisher Shamim Hossain is the discovery of the series, Afif and Nurul Hasan looked good in the late middle order. Soumya Sarkar justifiably came out as the player of the T20 series. Test discard Mahmudullah played the best innings of test career scoring match winning unbeaten 150 and then retired. He also managed his resources brilliantly in T20 series. Last but not the least Bangladesh star all rounder Shakib Al Hasan redeemed himself with all rounds display. Bangladesh appeared in good stead for the upcoming home series against Australia, New Zealand and England.
Bangladesh had three different captains in three formats. Mominul Haq led the test team, Tamim Iqbal captained in the ODI series and Mahmudullah Riad was the skipper of the T20 team.
Home team winning the toss of the all-important series deciding 3rd match skillfully executed their plan. On a flat wicket Madhevere ( 54 in 36 deliveries ) and Marumani (27 in 20 balls ) set the motion with 63 runs first wicket partnership in 6 overs. The Tiger bashing of Zimbabwe batsmen continued with Chakaba (48 in 22 balls ) and Ryan Burl (31* in 15 balls ) striking the balls all around the park. Taskin conceded 28 runs in 2 overs and Saifuddin bowling too short conceded as many as 50 in his 4 overs. The score could be still higher if not Soumya (2/19) and Shoriful (1/27) cleverly varying pace and adjusting length delivered. Shakib as usually was at his miserly mode taking 1/24 in his quota of 4 overs.
The task was well cut out for Bangladesh. Their do or die effort got an early blow with Naim getting out too early. Shakib (25 in 13 deliveries) joining Soumya ( 68 in 49 balls) provided the early momentum. But the foundation was laid in the dynamic 63 runs 3rd wicket partnership between Mahmudullah (34 in 28 balls) and Soumya. At 3/133 in the 14th over Zimbabwe was still in the match. Young Afif struck two huge sixes in his 5 balls 14. But rookie blaster Shamim plundering unbeaten 31 in 15 deliveries won the match. In his only second match Shamim already indicated Bangladesh possibly got a blooming bud at late middle order. He stood out among the ruins in the second ODI producing a quick-fire 29. Yesterday he capped off the win in a brilliant fashion. Shamim is the find of this tour. Ebullient Soumya Sarkar for his brilliant all round performance deservedly won the player of the match and player of the series award.
The successful tour would work as a fillip for the upcoming challenging encounters against Australia, New Zealand and England. Bangladesh would miss Tamim and Mushfique. Not very sure whether Liton and Mustafiz can also play. Hopefully team management has found an winning formula. But Bangladesh has lot of rooms to improve in all three departments to compete with stronger opponents. Bowling and fielding at times looked ordinary.
All well that ends well. The end was well executed by Team Bangladesh.
BDST: 1030 HRS, JUL 26, 2021
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