Tigers roar back to draw level
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak claimed a five-for and captain cool Shakib Al Hasan hammered a magnificent unbeaten century as Bangladesh levelled the five-match one-day series against Zimbabwe 1-1 after winning the second match by seven wickets at the floodlit Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
It was a roaring return by the Tigers at the venue where they lost the opening match so embarrassingly two days ago against their South African rivals. And fittingly, the chief entertainer in a thumping victory was Shakib, whose rampant 105 not out off 69 balls confirmed that Bangladesh toppled a modest total of 219 with a massive 20.3 overs to spare.
While Shakib, who has been a revelation ever since he took over the captaincy, kept the home fans on their toes with brilliant stroke-play in the second half of the contest, it was a miserly Razzak who made sure the visitors stumbled after a flying start with his turn and bounce. The slow left-armer, who threw caution to the wind in the first game with three wickets in his first over, this time finished with fantastic figures of 9.2-0-29-5 to win the man-of-the-match award ahead of his captain.
Zimbabwe started from where they had left off in the opening match with their openers Hamilton Masakadza (34) and Chamu Chibhabha (39) taking the toothless and erratic Bangladesh pace attack to the cleaners. The pair produced 59 runs in 11 overs before off-spinner Naeem Islam broke the partnership by having a sweeping Hamilton Masakadza plumb in front.
Razzak started the carnage with a beauty that caught Zimbabwe's top batsman Brendan Taylor clueless against a delivery that pitched on the leg stump and turned to take off the off stump's bail.
With Taylor out for 21, Zimbabwe lost the plot irrevocably with Razzak in full flow. Even first-match hero Elton Chigumbura struggled to find his feet before becoming the ninth batsman out leaving the score at 217.
Bangladesh also had their share of problem after openers Tamim Iqbal (26) and Zunaed Siddiqui (23) gave them an ideal start, flaying 44 runs off 23 balls. But once Zunaed was undone by a slower delivery from Chigumbura, the home side lost two more quick wickets.
Ex-captain Mohammad Ashraful was again totally out of sorts. He was out chasing a delivery outside the off stump with his feet firmly planted at the crease.
But the dismissal of Tamim brought the best out of Bangladesh with Shakib in full cry and Rokibul Hasan playing the perfect foil at the other end.
When Shakib batted it looked so simple that others could only envy. He treated the pacers and spinner with disdain playing trademark cut shots that pierced the field like a tracer bullet. The southpaw hammered 15 fours and three majestic sixes. He reached his fourth hundred with his trademark cut shot down to the point boundary for four and then hit the winning runs with another boundary to long off.
Rokibul scored an unbeaten 39 that contained four hits across the rope.
The third match will take place at the same venue on Saturday.
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