Harare: Zimbabwe won the 3rd match of the ODI series against Bangladesh by 5 runs. This is Zimbabwe’s first ODI series win against a Test-playing nation in five years.
Tatenda Taibu top scored for Zimbabwe with 83
Toss: Captain of Bangladesh won the toss and decided to field first.
Zimbabwe Innings
Sahiful Islam managed to take the wicket of Zimbabwe’s skipper Taylor in the 7th over. Sibanda who was going good caught out at the ball of Rubel Hossain in 14th over.
For adding more runs to the score of 39, Taibu came in to support Masakadza. Both took their time but played fantastically. This was a tough session for Bangladesh as their bowlers and fielders weren’t looking good.
After playing an innings of 74, Masakadza got clean bowled at the ball of Rubel Hossain. The score was 181/3 and the time was for some hitters. Ervine was the new batsman who tried to go deep on the Bangladeshi bowlers but got out cheaply after hitting a SIX and FOUR.
Taibu who was having problems with the board gave another answer in the form of his performance back to the criticizers, he scored 83 runs off 103 balls and hit 8 FOURS.
Ex-captain Chigumbura took the match away from Bangladesh by scoring 31 runs off 21 balls, he smashed 2 balls out of the ground and 1 towards boundary rope.
Mutizwa was the last to got out, he was trapped in front of stumps and was given out on a huge lbw out appeal. Utseya and Jarvis remained not-out at the score of 4 & 1.
Zimbabwe managed to score 250 in 50.0 overs and lost their 7 wickets. Bangladeshi bowlers gave 6 extra runs (b 1, lb 2, w 3). Rubel Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan took 2, 2 wickets and Shafiul Islam, Nazmul Hossain, Mahmudullah took 1, 1, 1 wicket.
Hamilton Masakadza made a determined 74
Bangladesh Innings
Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes gave a good start. After the partnership of 50 runs, Utseya in the 12th over managed to take Imrul Kayes down who was on 16.
Junaid Siddiue was also cleaned by Utseya after some overs. At such a crucial stage, Mushfiqur Rahim took the charge and tried to lead the time. Tamim after making a partnership of 25 with Mushfiqur Rahim got incidentally run-out. This was a big loss for Bangladesh as Tamim was on 44.
Skipper Shakib Al Hasan came in the ground to take his ship out of this storm but he also became the victim of Utseya. Shakib made only 19 runs off 22 balls and hit 1 SIX & 1 FOUR.
Zimbabwean fans were dancing for outstanding performance of their team but the match wasn’t over yet. Shuvagoto Hom who was on his debut tried to reconnect the link and was almost succeed. He stayed at the crease for 43 min. and add 32 runs. Sadly, he also got run-out.
Now only 66 runs were required off 47 balls. Mushfiqur Rahim was still on the pitch, Mahmudullah add 14 runs from 11 balls but then caught out at the ball of Vitori.
The next batsmen Nasir Hossain went back to pavilion without opening his account. It was a crucial situation. At the second ball of the 49th over, Jarvis clean bowled Shafiul Islam at duck. Both teams were very close of victory. In the same over, Rubel Hossain also got out.
What a match it was going. Zimbabwe was 1 wicket away from victory and Bangladesh was 8 runs away. 6 balls were about to bowl. Sensation and thrill was crunching the spectators. Mpofu was the bowler and Mushifuqr Rahim was on strike, he took 2 runs off the first ball. Now 5 runs were required off 5 balls. Mpofu pitched up the ball off which Mushfiqur Raheem tried to hit a big SIX but it went in the safe hands of Sibanda at long-on.
This was the end of the game. Zimbabwe fans were shouting and dancing in joy for winning an ODI series against a test team after 4-5 years. On the other hand, Bangladeshi fans were shocked, they were criticizing Mushfiqur Rahim for playing a big shot when they were down with 9 wickets.
It was a recap of the match (final), which we all saw in the 2007 ICC Cricket World between Pakistan and India. Pakistan was just 6 runs away off the victory but lost it because of the startling shot of Misbah-ul-Haq who tried to end it in style but caught out. Cricket is by luck, its about to control your emotions and focus on the game.
In the end, world saw a good, sensational and thrilling cricket. Good to see Zimbabwe back on the track. They are working as a team unit. Bangladesh have to work hard on their weaknesses.
Mushfiqur Rahim made a fighting century to keep Bangladesh in with a chance
Result: Zimbabwe won by 5 runs.
Man Of The Match: Mushfiqur Rahim (Bangladesh).
