The Bangladesh bowlers’ lack of killer instinct allowed Zimbabwe batters to rally from a catastrophic position to a reasonable total in the first of the five-match Twenty20 international series between the two sides on Friday at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
Put into bat first, the visitors were reeling at 41-7 after 7.4 overs thanks to some excellent bowling from pacers Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin and spinner Mahedi Hasan.
Zimbabwe lost Craig Ervine for a duck in the second over. Saifuddin then forced debutant fellow opener Joylord Gumbie (17) to give a catch to Taskin at fine leg.
Mahedi’s next over saw Brian Bennett run out for 16, and skipper Sikandar Raza suffered a first-ball duck off consecutive deliveries.
Taskin also sent back Sean Williams and Ryan Burl for nought off back-to-back deliveries in the following over, and Saifuddin dismissed Luke Jongwe for two. Madande was given leg-before off Saifuddin on 28, but the decision was reversed after review.
At that point, it appeared like Zimbabwe would struggle to reach the 60-run mark, but a record eighth-wicket stand by Madande and Wellington Masakadza helped the visitors recover from an early collapse to score 124 in 20 overs.
The pair added 75 off 65 balls for Zimbabwe’s highest eighth-wicket partnership. Taskin bowled Madande for 43 off 39 balls to break the stand, but Masakadza (34 off 38 balls) stayed at the crease until he was run out on the last ball of the innings.
Masakadza could have been dismissed on one if veteran Mahmudullah had not dropped him at cover off the bowling of leg-spinner Rishad Hossain.
Though Taskin (3-14) bowled well, Saifuddin (3-16) justified his inclusion after a long 18-month hiatus due to injury, and Mahedi claimed 2-16, left-arm pacer Shoriful Islam and Rishad lacked the killer punch.
Shoriful, who had a purple patch in his career during the last home series against Sri Lanka, went wicketless in his four overs, allowing 37 runs at an economy rate of 9.25.
Rishad, who is well regarded for his bowling and aggressive batting, too went wicketless, allowing 37 runs.
