Tigers win second T20 against Zimbabwe to level series

With a comfortable seven-wicket win, Bangladesh levelled the three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe on Sunday at the Harare Sports Club, according to UNB.

The third and final match of the series will take place on August 2 at the same venue.

Bangladesh lost the first match by 17 runs. They needed to bounce back in the second match in order to stay in the race of winning the series.

Mosadeek Hossain bagged five wickets conceding only 20 runs and set the stage for Bangladesh. Liton Das hit a fifty and Bangladesh win the match with seven wickets in hand.

While chasing a moderate total of 135, Bangladesh reached the target in 17.3 overs. Afif Hossain and Najmul Hossain Shanot remained unbeaten for 30 and 19 respectively.

Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first. But they could not start as they did in the first match. Off the very first ball of the match, Mosaddek trapped Regis Chakabva for a duck. Captain Nurul Hasan Sohan took an easy catch behind the wicket.

After Chakabva, Mosaddek also removed Craig Ervine, Wesley Madhevere, Sean Williams and Milton Shumba. All of them were out for a single-digit run.

Mosaddek ended up taking five wickets for 20 runs— his best bowling figures in the format. And along the way, he became only the fourth Bangladeshi bowler to take five or more wickets in T20Is.

But Sikandar Raza stood like a wall in front of Bangladeshi bowlers. Before falling to Mustafizur Rahman, Raza scored 62 runs off 53 balls. And Ryan Burl was the second-highest runs taker for the hosts scoring 32 off 31 balls.

Eventually, Zimbabwe tumbled for 135 for eight in 20 overs. They demonstrated a great recovery despite Mosaddek’s show.

This win will be marked as the first win of Bangladesh under the leadership of Nurul Hasan Sohan who recently replaced Mahmudullah Riyad as the captain of Bangladesh in T20Is.

After the three-match T20 series, Bangladesh will take on the hosts in a three-match ODI series against the hosts starting on August 5. All the matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club.