Tigers rout Zimbabwe in T20Is too
Bangladesh tied a bow on their sheer dominance over Zimbabwe when the home side completed a clean sweep over the visitors with a comprehensive nine-wicket win in the second and final T20I at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
With this win, Bangladesh -- who had previously won the one-off Test which was followed by a 3-0 ODI series win -- concluded a perfect outing at home after a dismal show in Pakistan ahead of the series. It was the first time ever that Bangladesh managed a clean sweep of their opponents in all three formats of a series.
After restricting Zimbabwe to a sub-par 119 for seven, Bangladesh coasted to the target, riding on in-from Liton Das scoring his second consecutive fifty and remaining unbeaten on 60 off 45 balls with the help of eight fours.
Young Mohammad Naim got an opportunity in this game after experienced opener Tamim Iqbal was rested, and the left hander seized the chance, scoring 33 off 34 balls with the help of five fours and was the only wicket to fall for the Tigers.
The opening pair of Liton and Naim added the second-best opening stand for the Tigers in the shortest format, scoring 77 runs. Soumya Sarkar remained unbeaten on 20 as the Tigers reached the target with 25 balls to spare.
Earlier, Bangladesh made three changes from the first game, with Tamim, Aminul Islam and Shafiul Islam making way for Naim, debutant Hasan Mahmud and Al Amin Hossain, which paid dividends for the home side.
Zimbabwe elected to bat and for the very first time in the series showed some sort of resistance with a stable start from Brendan Taylor and Craig Ervine as the second-wicket pair added 57.
But even that could not help the visitors. Ervine departed after scoring 33 while Taylor remained unbeaten with a team-high 59 off 48 balls, but Zimbabwe kept losing wickets at regular interval at the other end.
Mustafizur Rahman picked up two wickets and showed a glimpse of returning to form after picking three in the first game, while Al-Amin also bagged two.
It has been a dream set of series for the Tigers right from the one-off Test, which Bangladesh won by an innings and 106 runs as Mushfiqur Rahim struck his third double ton in the longest format of the game and took himself to a new height.
It was then Liton and Tamim in the three-match ODI series as both openers made and broke records for Bangladesh. Both Liton and Tamim struck two hundreds in the three games and Tamim surpassed his own record of highest individual score for Bangladesh with 158 in the second ODI.
But Liton made sure that record would last just for two days as he eclipsed with 176 runs -- in the third ODI, which also saw Bangladesh's highest ever partnership of 292 between the duo.
There may be questions regarding Zimbabwe's strength, so the challenge for the Tigers will be to continue their brilliant run against tougher opponents.
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