A Perfect Finish

Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

As soon as umpire Aleem Dar raised his finger to signal the end of Zimbabwe innings, Bangladesh's close-in fielders went haywire. High-fives were exchanged, stumps were uprooted and the process of forming a celebratory huddle was about to begin.

However, just as the celebrations were about to notch up a gear, it had to be put on hold, for Zimbabwe had decided to review the umpire's decision. Eventually Dar's decision was upheld and the celebrations resumed once more.

This little episode, right before the Tigers completed their historic 3-0 whitewash with a 186-run win, epitomised exactly the kind of year it has been for Bangladesh. There were numerous occasions when they were a mere step away from victory and yet, at times disbelievingly, failed to pack the final punch.

When the DRS was asked for one last time in Chittagong yesterday, for a moment it just felt as though the Tigers were being teased; they were made to wait an extra anxious minute to confirm a deserving win.

And yet, there it finally was. After struggling throughout a year which saw embarrassing defeats, resignation of coaches, captains changed the Tigers have finally achieved something that they could be proud of: a perfect result.

Their task -- getting nine wickets on the final day -- was made easier by the visiting batsmen who attempted risky shots against the spinners and looked out of sorts in the morning session. One would have thought that Zimbabwe would do their best to stick out the 90 overs, but that did not seem to be a part of their plan.

Hamilton Masakadza got out while attempting an audacious reverse-sweep against part-time off-spinner Shuvagata Hom. His partner Sikandar Raza got out four overs later as he smacked a full-toss straight to the fielder at deep midwicket. Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor committed the same mistake that he was doing throughout the series and got out while attempting to drive Jubair Hossain's leg-spin through the covers; he edged it to point.

Regis Chakabva, despite giving a couple of opportunities, stayed there till the end with an unbeaten 89. He was by far Zimbabwe's best batsman. He played on the back-foot and that gave him time to negotiate the spin and bounce. A bottom-handed player, Chakabva ensured to punish the bad balls through the mid-wicket region and at the same time put a straight bat to the respectable deliveries. Most of his seven fours came against Shuvagata, who bowled quite a few loose deliveries in the middle.

After seven wickets had fallen, Mushfiqur opted for the new ball with an aim to finish off the tail and that was exactly what happened. Rubel Hossain and Shafiul Islam returned from the shadows to scalp the last three wickets. They both bowled straight and fast and left the Zimbabwean tail-enders with no answers.