‘Mosaddek set the tone, Liton the platform’
Bangladesh bounced back to keep the three-match T20I series alive, courtesy of Mosaddek Hossain's maiden five-wicket haul to restrict Zimbabwe to 135 for 8 as the Tigers eventually went on to register a comfortable seven-wicket victory over the hosts in the second T20I in Harare yesterday.
Liton Das laid the platform in the chase by striking a half-century while Afif Hossain and Najmul Hossain were unbeaten on 30 and 19, respectively, leading Nurul Hasan Sohan to register his maiden win as the captain of the Bangladesh T20I side in his second game.
"Great performance from the guys, especially the bowlers did well and Mosaddek [Hossain] set the tone for us, while Liton also set the platform with the bat for us," Sohan said during the post-match presentation ceremony yesterday.
"We are looking forward to the next game and hopefully we will be able to give our best."
Bangladesh made two changes from the first game with Taskin Ahmed and Nasum Ahmed replaced by Hasan Mahmud and Mahedi Hasan, respectively. And although Zimbabwe elected to bat first, skipper Nurul informed that Bangladesh would have bowled first if he had won the toss, reflecting the skipper's belief over his bowling unit heading into the series-saving encounter.
After the first T20I, the Tigers bowling department made a strong statement, led by off-spinner Mosaddek who became the fourth Bangladeshi to scalp a fifer in the shortest format of the game.
It was Nurul Hasan's ploy to hand Mosaddek to open the innings and it paid dividends as the 26-year-old picked up two wickets in the innings' first over, removing Regis Chakabva and Wessley Madehvere.
"Yes, it was the captain's plan before the start of the game that we will start with spin. There was not much talk in the dressing room after the defeat in the first match and we wanted to play as a team today [Yesterday]," said Mosaddek, the player-of-the-match.
Mosaddek went on to scalp three more in his next three overs to complete with his career-best bowling figure of five for 20, which also became the best bowling figure by any bowler in Harare.
Elias Sunny picked up five for 13 against Ireland in 2012 and tops the list while Mustafizur Rahman occupies the fourth spot with figures of five for 22 against New Zealand in the T20 World Cup in 2016.
Bangladesh, who never lost a T20I series against Zimbabwe, will face the hosts in the third and final game on Tuesday.
SCORES IN BRIEF (2ND T20I)
ZIMBABWE: 135 for 8 in 20 overs (Raza 62, Burl 32; Mosaddek 5-20, Mustafizur 1-30)
BANGLADESH: 136 for 3 in 17.3 overs (Liton 56, Afif 30 not out, Shanto 19 not out; Ngarva 1-23, Raza 1-18)
Result: Bangladesh Won by 7 wickets
Player-of-the-match: Mosaddek Hossain