Zimpapers Logo

Bangladesh 271/8 in 50 overs (Imraul Kayes 144, Saifuddin 50; Kyle Jarvis 4-37, Tendai Chatara 3-55) beat Zimbabwe 243/9 in 50 overs (Sean Williams 50*, Kyle Jarvis 37; Mehidy Hasan 3-46, Nazmul Islam 2-38) by 28 runs.

ZIMBABWE embarrassingly fell to their 11th ODI defeat on the trot as Bangladesh kept them to 243 in a chase of 272, in the three-match series opener in Dhaka yesterday.

Barring a brief phase at the start of their reply and a 67-run stand at the end of it, Zimbabwe never seemed up for the task.

The visitors lost wickets in clusters, and at regular intervals to quickly fall behind the required run rate before the hosts marched to 28-run victory.

Bangladesh’s match-winning score was set-up by opener Imrul Kayes’s career-best 144 that rendered Kyle Jarvis’s best bowling figures of 4 for 37 unprofitable.

It was Cephas Zhuwao’s brisk cameo at the top of the order that gave Zimbabwe faint hope after they’d let the game slip from their grip in the first half.

Bangladesh opened with Mashrafe Mortaza and Mehidy Hasan and after two watchful overs, the Zimbabwean opener took the attack to the opposition.

He hit four quick boundaries and two sixes in his 24-ball stay that propelled Zimbabwe to 47 without loss in seven overs.

However, Mustafizur struck with his first legal delivery of the game to put an early end to Zhuwao’s fireworks and get the hosts a breakthrough. Zimbabwe could never recover to even pose a threat.

Nazmul Islam got rid of two of Zimbabwe’s biggest hopes in this tough ask, Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza, by producing two unplayable deliveries that deceived the batsmen, turning sharply away and crashing into their off-pole.

In between was a suicidal run-out of Zimbabwean skipper Hamilton Masakadza, who went chasing a non-existent second run only to be caught way short of his crease, thanks to an excellent full-stretched dive put in by Mushfiqur Rahim.

With the required rate well above eight and steadily climbing, Mehidy Hasan added insult to injury by taking out the next three well-set batsmen.

Craig Ervine was bowled by a quicker off-break, Peter Moor trapped plumb in front and Brandon Mavuta caught stunningly by Mehidy off his own bowling as Zimbabwe slid to 169 for 8 at the end of the 40th over.

While Bangladesh could almost smell the victory, Sean Williams and Jarvis made them fight hard for it with a defiant 67-run partnership for the ninth wicket.

Williams, who top-scored with an unbeaten 50, and Jarvis who followed up on his four-fer with a valiant 37, kept Bangladesh at bay for more than nine overs when the hosts needed just the final two scalps.

However, the pair merely delayed the inevitable and saved their side from the embarrassment of not playing out their 50 overs.

Earlier, it was Kayes’s third ODI century that paved way for Bangladesh’s compelling score despite a Jarvis three-fer in the middle overs that left the hosts in a spot of bother.

The opener absorbed all pressure and his 140-ball effort helped them recover from a precarious 139 for 6 to post a 272-run challenge for Zimbabwe.

Chatara’s double-wicket over in his opening spell had the home team reeling at 17 for 2 after a rather sedate start.

However, with the ball not coming on to the bat early on, Kayes dug in patiently and stitched handy partnerships to revive Bangladesh.

He played the aggressor in his 49-run stand with Rahim but Mohammed Mithun assumed that role in their 71-run alliance for the fourth wicket.

Kayes took Bangladesh past the 100-run mark with the first of the two consecutive sixes he hit off Chatara over the deep midwicket fence, while Mithun meted out similar treatment to Raza straight down the ground, two overs later.

Bangladesh’s recovery though was halted by senior pacer Jarvis, who claimed three wickets in the space of eight deliveries in his second spell after a brief time off the field with an early hamstring niggle.

Mithun and Mahmudullah fell in the same over, both caught behind, though the latter wasted a DRS review on his way back to the pavilion, while Mehidy became Jarvis’s third victim and Taylor’s fifth catch behind the stumps in the game.

At 139 for 6, Zimbabwe had Bangladesh on the mat and stunned the Dhaka crowd to silence. But a well-set Kayes had other plans.

Even though a seven-over period following the three quick strikes resulted in only a handful of runs, it allowed Saifuddin to settle down while Kayes slowly began to kick on again.

Moving into 80s with Bangladesh’s first boundary in eight overs, Kayes helped them past the 200-run mark in the 43rd over shortly after raising his third triple figure mark in ODIs.

The death overs charge was also led by Kayes, who switched gears seamlessly soon after his hundred. Two 18-run overs, off Zimbabwe’s two most successful bowlers on the day, had Bangladesh march past the 250 mark and Kayes beyond his previous ODI best score of 112.

The opener couldn’t get a maiden 150 – Jarvis dismissing him to register his best ODI returns – and Saifuddin too fell immediately after his half-century, but Bangladesh had enough on the board to test a struggling Zimbabwe. —Cricbuzz