Tigers wrap it up 4-1
Bangladesh completed their memorable overseas trip in style as makeshift opener Mushfiqur Rahim slammed 98 after Dollar Mahmud's four-wicket burst to script a five-wicket victory in the fifth and last one-day at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday.
Having confirmed the series victory in the previous game, Shakib Al Hasan's men showed no mercy to the home team in the dead rubber to make it 4-1.
After three high-scoring matches, right-arm paceman Dollar Mahmud, who flew in as a backup of injured bowler Rubel Hossain and played the match in place of Mahbubul Alam, made sure of a low-scoring affair in the last game as he got movement from the surface to tear down the Zimbabwean top order.
The 20-year old right-arm pacer's career-best bowling saw the home team bundled out for 209 runs in 46.4 overs. At one stage the home side were reduced to a precarious 69 for 6 in the 15th over but Brendan Taylor (61) and Ray Price (46) salvaged the innings.
Mushfiqur then took the spotlight as the wicketkeeper-batsman capitalised on the opportunity of opening the innings in reply to a modest target, but unfortunately missed out on his deserved maiden hundred.
The right-hander charged out of the crease against left-arm spinner Price to loft it over the bowler's head but missed the ball and keeper Coventry made no mistake to clip the bails.
The Bangladesh vice-captain smashed eleven fours during his 121-ball 98 while captain Shakib added 30 off 40 balls as Bangladesh coasted to the target of 212 runs in 47.5 overs with five wickets to spare.
In their brief history at the highest level of the game, the Tigers had never experienced such an incredible run of success as they returned home on the back of a Test and two consecutive one-day series wins.
The Tigers went into the Lions den with high expectations after their historic Test and one-day series wins in the Caribbean and they tremendously carried on their form on way to the comfortable series victory against the bottom-ranked side in spite of getting a jolt in the third match suffering a 69-run defeat.
Bangladesh lost their regular skipper Mashrafe Bin Mortaza at the very early stage of the tour but they hardly felt his absence thanks to Shakib who did the business brilliantly to enhance his reputation and bring back the smile to the faces of millions of cricket fans after the heartbreaking performance in the ICC World T20 in England.
It was a rare occasion as three Bangladesh batsmen scored hundreds in a series as former Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful, current skipper Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, who hit the highest ODI score of 154 for Bangladesh, reached three digit figures in the five-match series.
Bangladesh also had a record-breaking chase when they overhauled the Zimbabwean total 312 in the fourth game to confirm the series win.
The Tigers' next assignment is against the same opponents as Zimbabwe will arrive in Dhaka on October 23 to play five one-day internationals.
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