Zimbabwe 187 for 6 (Waller 49, Sibanda 44, Shakib 3-32) beat Bangladesh 156 for 6 (Sabbir 50, Cremer 3-18) by 31 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Vusi Sibanda started Zimbabwe’s aggressive approach from the first over itself © AFP
Zimbabwe’s batting line-up mustered a power-packed performance, something they hadn’t done earlier in the series, to keep the series alive with a 31-run win in the third T20 against Bangladesh. Zimbabwe’s spinners continued to pick wickets, like they had done earlier in the series, and made sure that this time they stifled the hosts to derail the chase around the halfway mark despite their strong start.
Zimbabwe’s batsmen attacked almost throughout the innings and were marshalled by Vusi Sibanda in the beginning and Malcolm Waller later on to put on a challenging 187 after stand-in captain Hamilton Masakadza had said the “160-mark” would be decent on this pitch. Tendai Chisoro, Graeme Cremer and Sikandar Raza took all six wickets and conceded only 40 runs in the 10 overs among them.
Zimbabwe saw useful contributions from their top five batsmen, each of them notching a strike rate of over 120. Sibanda showed his intent from the first ball he faced by charging down to left-arm pacer Abu Hider, one of the four Bangladesh debutants, to drill him through the covers for four. He carved out a pretty wide ‘V’ on both sides of the pitch by dispatching meaty drives and flicks. Masakadza also got going after a slow start, and hammered Mohammad Shahid, another debutant, for four consecutive fours before falling for 20 when he eyed a fifth one.
Full report to follow…
Vishal Dikshit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo