Abdur Razzak’s hattrick, only the second in ODI history by a spinner, inspired Bangladesh to a series-levelling six-wicket victory over Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday in the second one-dayer of the five-match series.
The left-arm spinner first removed Prosper Utseya off the last ball of the 45th over, his ninth, before trapping Ray Price leg-before with the first ball of his next over, the 47th of the innings. Chris Mpofu then offered only his pads and the umpire obliged, to not only put Razzak alongside Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq in an exclusive club, but also give him a five-wicket haul.
The Mpofu wicket was also Zimbabwe’s last as they were bowled out for 191 runs, which the Tigers eclipsed in only 39.4 overs with Rokibul Hasan and Junaed Siddiqui hitting important half-centuries.
But Zimbabwe’s vulnerability to spin again came to the fore as Shakib Al Hasan too was in his elements, picking up four wickets to celebrate his 100th ODI. After paceman Shafiul Islam had Chamu Chibhabha sky one to wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim, the Shakib-Razzak pair was devastating.
Brendan Taylor fell to Shakib after a promising 28 before Razzak opened his account for the day with the wickets of Regis Chakabva and Tatenda Taibu. Zimbabwe were starting to look slightly dangerous before the 29-year-old from Khulna ended the visitors’ innings with his flurry of wickets.
Tamim Iqbal began the Tigers reply with a cover-driven six off Utseya and remained dominant despite losing Imrul Kayes in the sixth over. The left-hander’s promise of a big knock was building through five crisp boundaries but after hitting his second six (off Price), he tried to repeat the shot off the next ball, but fell for 44 off 48 balls.
Rokibul and Junaed followed up Tamim’s momentum with a 72-run third wicket stand that sealed the game for the hosts, both batsmen looking progressively confident. Junaed’s innings could have ended when he was on just a single but Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura dropped a sitter at mid-off and the doughty Rajshahi lad struck 53 off 83 balls with the help of four boundaries and a six.
Rokibul too released some of the pressure of not doing well against New Zealand, reaching his eighth ODI fifty with a six over mid-wicket. His 79-ball 65 also contained six boundaries, the last two being the best shots of the day — creaming the ball through the cover, beating two fielders inside the circle and one in the boundary.
