New ODI captain Mashrafe Mortaza smartly taking charge, Shakib Al Hasan hitting his first ODI century in four years and picking up four wickets, former ODI captain Mushfiqur Rahim contributing a fifty and a spectacular catch behind the stumps. Bangladesh needed this blend to win an ODI after 383 days and break their 13-game hoodoo. They defended 281 on a blanket of dew, cleverly, causing Zimbabwe to fall 87 short.
Shakib's 101 off 99 balls had 10 fours played all round the wicket as he, at times, toyed with the Zimbabwe attack. The visitors' ordinary fielding helped too, and Shakib found gaps easily to pick up 51 singles. There were overs when he and Mushfiqur also ran plenty of twos.
After helping Bangladesh to 281 for 7, Shakib wasn't done yet, and contributed by removing the first two Zimbabwe wickets - Sikandar Raza and Vusi Sibanda - in the eighth over, and later bowling Solomon Mire and having John Nyumbu caught at slip. The delivery to remove Raza was classic Shakib: the batsman was drawn forward but got duped by the turn.
Shakib, in the process, became the 12th cricketer to take four wickets and score a century in the same ODI. Mahmudullah, Arafat Sunny and Mortaza took two scalps each, bowling tight spells and claiming important breakthroughs for the team.
For Zimbabwe, Brendan Taylor top scored with 54 off 72 balls with four fours and a huge six over midwicket. He also survived a chance on 51, when Arafat Sunny dropped him running in from deep square-leg, but had to depart after hitting an offcutter from Mortaza towards Mushfiqur, who did well to dive to his right and pouch a difficult chance. Hamilton Masakadza made 42 off 48 balls with seven fours before Mahmudullah trapped him leg-before.
But it was really the Shakib show all the way, with both bat and ball. In the first innings, he found boundaries through fine leg and third man, and also belted the ball through the covers, mid-off and midwicket at every opportunity. He reached his first fifty off 56 balls, and the hundred came off 95 deliveries. He chanced his arm a couple of times and the ball went past a gully and a cover fielder in the air, but largely, it was an innings that took Bangladesh from a slippery slide to a position from where they could dictate.
The shot that would define Shakib's innings came in the 37th over - a turn of the wrist that took the ball speeding past the midwicket fielder and the player at long-on. He added 148 for the fifth wicket with Mushfiqur, breaking the Bangladesh record set by himself and Raqibul Hasan against South Africa in 2008. Bangladesh were 70 for 4 when the pair came together, courtesy Mominul Haque's unnecessary scoop off Nyumbu; the hosts had compiled 218 by the time Shakib departed.
Mushfiqur was far luckier than Shakib, getting three lives - dropped on 16 by Chigumbura at cover, caught off a no-ball on 56, and dropped on 60 by Taylor at point. He connected twice with his slog-sweep, collecting two sixes, apart from two fours.
Shakib reached his century in the 43rd over and he celebrated with some shadow practice. The pair added 78 between the 30th and 40th over, and more tellingly, 48 in the second Powerplay. The final thrust was provided by Sabbir Rahman's 25-ball 44 that had three fours and three sixes, the last two of which came off the last two balls of the Bangladesh innings.
Bangladesh's start with the bat, however, was not up to the mark. Tamim Iqbal played all around a straightish delivery while Anamul slogged to offer a simple catch to mid-off. Mahmudullah made no use of his second appearance as Bangladesh's No. 4, hitting to mid-on.
Out of Zimbabwe's eight bowlers used, Panyangara took 3 for 66, while Tendai Chatara took two wickets. There was not much discipline as they conceded 17 wides and couple of no-balls. Neither Nyumbu nor Tafadzwa Kamungozi bowled their quote of 10 overs, although they took a wicket each.
As it turned out, it wasn't nearly enough to cause Bangladesh any more ODI woes in 2014.
2nd ODI Bangladesh 251 for 7 (Anamul 80, Tamim 76, Kamungozi 2-38) beat Zimbabwe 183 (Mire 50, Sunny 4-29) by 68 runs
Bangladesh overpowered Zimbabwe in the second ODI that saw the fortunes of both teams seesawing and consolidated their lead in the five-match series. Mashrafe Mortaza's three early wickets were followed by a grinding battle which continued till the 42nd over when the home side made the finishing move.
Zimbabwe weren't letting go of the chase until that point, particularly with Elton Chigumbura starting to open up with a flurry of boundaries. At that point, Sabbir Rahman's direct hit caught the Zimbabwe captain short of the crease, effectively ending their chances of a final assault at the 252-run target. They were eventually bowled out for 183 runs in 44.5 overs, the match ending with Arafat Sunny taking three wickets in one over.
Bangladesh appeared to be on shaky ground at the innings break after a collapse from 158 for no loss to 204 for 6 in the space of 10.2 overs. Every fall of wicket was immediately followed by another. Tamim Iqbals's was the first wicket to fall in the 34th over, ending Bangladesh's second-highest opening partnership in ODIs and it was followed by the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan off the next delivery. Shakib missed a straight one from Vusi Sibanda to collect his fourth golden duck in ODIs.
Anamul Haque was the third batsman to fall, superbly caught by Sibanda at point, after he had made 80 off 110 balls. Two deliveries later, Sabbir Rahman was out for a second-ball duck after being caught at fine-leg off a top-edged pull. Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim added 31 runs quickly before falling off consecutive deliveries to Tafadzwa Kamungozi.
Mahmudullah chipped the ball to long-off, while Mushfiqur failed to connect a reverse sweep and was out lbw. Bangladesh eventually made 251, thanks to Mominul Haque providing a late flourish.
The Zimbabwe openers could not replicate their opposite numbers, however. Hamilton Masakadza inside edged Mashrafe's slower offcutter before Vusi Sibanda, in a rush to play shots, was similarly castled by a quicker offcutter. Sikandar Raza was his third scalp, top edging a shortish delivery with Mahmudullah running back from cover to complete the catch.
Zimbabwe slipped to 50 for 4 in the 14th over when Brendan Taylor's attempted reverse sweep took his glove, on to Mushfiqur's shoulder before Mahmudullah took another good catch, this time at slip. Further slide was prevented by Regis Chakabva, who made 32 off 53 balls, and newcomer Solomon Mire. The pair added 65 runs for the fifth wicket in 14.2 overs, keeping them in the vicinity of the required run-rate at the stage. Mire reached his maiden ODI fifty soon after, off 78 balls with two boundaries, but he fell next ball - caught well by Arafat Sunny at point off Shakib.
A game of cat and mouse started with Shakib bowling a maiden and giving away one run in the Powerplay but Chigumbura hammering 18 off a Mashrafe over in between. Zimbabwe needed 77 off the last ten overs, but Sunny came back and gave away just a single and soon, Chigumbura fell to a run-out as the run-rate pressure mounted. The innings ended soon after, with the next three wickets only adding six runs.
Bangladesh's six-wicket collapse hardly did justice to Tamim and Anamul, who had provided a strong platform - Bangladesh's third 150-plus opening stand and the second-highest after the 170-run partnership between Shahriar Hossain and Mehrab Hossain in 1999, also against Zimbabwe.
The pair reached 50 runs in 13.1 overs to bring up Bangladesh's first 50-plus opening stand since March this year. Twelve overs later, they added Bangladesh's ninth century opening stand. They added 77 in the first 20 overs but settled down and pushed up the scoring rate, and the next 10 overs produced 57 runs. Bangladesh took the Powerplay in the 29th over and finished the five-over period with 42 runs for one wicket.
Tamim played some excellent shots in his 76 off 98 balls, between periods of play when he stalled and waited for the bad balls. There were a couple of edged boundaries but he peppered the cover and point boundaries and brought up his fifty with a straight six over long-on.
Anamul took his time to settle down. He miscued a few to the boundary but soon found his way and ensured Tamim had the bulk of the strike. He drove through cover to bring up his 50 off 83 balls and then lofted the ball through the same area for a six. His half-century also made it the ninth occasion when both Bangladesh openers had scored fifties.
The home side ultimately prevailed, despite the batting collapse and Zimbabwe threatening give a real go at the chase.
No comments:
Post a Comment