Bangladesh 166 for 6 (Sabbir 46, Shakib 20*, Cremer 2-32) beat Zimbabwe 163 for 7 (Masakadza 79, Mustafizur 2-18) by four wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Bangladesh outdid Zimbabwe in Khulna by being the scrappier of the two sides, winning the first T20 by four wickets. Zimbabwe suffered a middle-order collapse which left them with a much lower score than they had hoped for, and Bangladesh eventually gunned down their target of 164 with eight deliveries to spare.
When Mahmudullah was the sixth batsman to fall in the 17th over of Bangladesh’s chase, Shakib had debutant Nurul Hasan to steer the hosts to score the remaining 27 runs in 3.1 overs. Brian Vitori then proceeded to leak 14 runs off an over, including a four off a Nurul scoop, and five wides down the leg-side. In the penultimate over, Shakib struck two fours, the first edged through third-man and the next a cool flick over square-leg, before Luke Jongwe bowled a horrible wide that flew past the wicketkeeper for a boundary, completing Bangladesh’s victory.
Soumya Sarkar was Bangladesh’s first wicket, running himself out after a horrendous mix-up with Tamim Iqbal, with both batsmen ending up in the striker’s end after Tamim had whipped a ball to short fine-leg. Tamim was soon dismissed, in the seventh over, having struck three fours and a six in his 24-ball 29 which featured a commanding start but an insipid ending. Shuvagata Hom, one of two debutants for Bangladesh, fell for 6 when a Sean Williams delivery spun past his bat to knock off the off-bail.
Full report to follow…
Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo