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Tigers sink Zimbabwe in first T20I


Published : 09 Mar 2020 10:02 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 05:40 PM

Bangladesh comprehensively beat Zimbabwe by 48 runs in the first of two-match T20I series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Monday.  Batting first, Tigers posted a mammoth 200/3. Zimbabwe fought till the end but they eventually bundled out for 152. 


Tigers were off to a flying start with the bat, thanks to a 92-run opening stand from Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das, the highest opening partnership for Bangladesh in T20Is. Later, it was Soumya Sarkar’s cameo that helped Bangladesh post 200 or more for the third time in the format. Soumya remained unbeaten for a 32-ball 62, his career best T20I score, that featured 4 boundaries and 5 maximums.

However, Tigers were not ideal with the ball, but they did enough to blow Zimbabwe out of the competition. None of Zimbabwe’s senior batsmen scored big and despite playing on a good surface, they were never going to get close to 200 without contributions from them.

 After winning the toss Zimbabweans sent Tigers to bat first. Opener Tamim and Liton gave Tigers a blistering start. They both kicked off from where they left at ODI series. Both took their brilliant ODI series form in the T20 series as well.  They were smashing the Zimbabwean bowlers in all parts of the ground, hitting boundaries constantly and scoring at a rate of 10 runs per over.

Zimbabwe then got their first breakthrough of the match as pacer Wesley Madhevere removed Tamim for 41. After Tamim’s dismissal, in form Liton picked up his half century. However, Sikandar Raza then trapped him to lbw. Liton played an exquisite knock of 39-ball 59 before getting out. At that stage, Bangladesh were 106/2 after 13 overs.

After that, crowd witnessed Soumya Sarkar’s quick-fire innings. His blistering innings of 62 runs took Bangladesh to 200-run landmark. He took twenty runs off the last over and twenty-two in the 16th over. Soumya was vaulted back to No. 3 and played a blinder to finish the innings in style.

Chasing a mammoth total of 200, Zimbabweans did not start ideally, they lost 2 of their crucial batsmen - Brendan Taylor and Craig Ervine in quick successions. Shafiul Islam and Mustafizur Rahman took the wickets of Taylor and Ervine respectively. Zimbabwe were three down early as Wesely Madhever was removed by spinner Aminul Islam, leaving Zimbabwe at 37/3 after 5.3 overs.

Skipper Sean Williams tried to show some kind of resilience but he too failed as wickets were falling at regular intervals. After the end of 10th over, Zimbabwe were crumbling at 76/5. Zimbabwe, at the end, tried hard to reduce the losing margin but their innings was put to a halt at 152. For Bangladesh, spinner Aminul and pacer Mustafizur scalped 3 wickets each.