Bangladesh put up a clinical performance with both bat and ball to thrash Zimbabwe by 124 runs in the third one-day international and wrap-up the five-match series in Dhaka on Wednesday. The proceedings followed the script of second match in Chittagong as the openers put another century stand and Mashrafee bin Murtaza rattled Zimbabwe with his opening spell blast.Arafat Sunny provided the finishing touch once again with a four-wicket haul in successive matches to make it 3-0 for the Tigers.
The only major difference between the second and third ODIs was the margin of defeat, which nearly doubled, curtsey of Bangladesh’s highest total in the series.
The Tigers owed the result to openers Anamul Haque and Tamim Iqbal, who followed their 158-run stand in Chittagong with 121-run stand to lay the foundation for their 297-6.
Tamim was uncharacteristically subdued during the big stand but Anamul played his natural game and closed in on his fourth ODI century before one moment of lapse in concentration saw him dismissed for 95.
Zimbabwe, who won the toss and opted to field, had to wait for some luck to get their first breakthrough, which came with Tamim being freakishly run out for 40.
When Hamilton Masakadza collected a throw of Brendan Taylor from deep mid-wicket and dismantled the stumps Tamim was well within the crease but only with his both feet in the air.
Bangladesh refused to overhaul their batting order completely despite the openers consumed more than half of their allotted overs and sent Mominul Haque in one-down position this time.
Mominul, however, could not use his opportunity and departed for 15 bringing Sakib al Hasan to the crease.
Mushfiqur Rahim joined him after Anamul’s dismissal and the pair added 72 runs in eight overs to make up for the slow start of openers.
Tinashe Panyangara removed Sakib (40 off 33 balls) and Mushfiq (33 off 22 balls) in the same over but there was no respite for Zimbabwe as Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman continued in the same vein.
The Tigers missed the chance to take their score past 300-run mark simply because of an outstanding catch from Timycen Maruma on the edge of boundary line that saw Sabbir dismissed for 22 off 12 runs in the final over.
Mahmudullah stayed unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls to play his part in the run fest as the Tigers added 103 runs in the last 10 overs.
The big total on the board gave bowlers some freedom and they used it to their full advantage to ensure Zimbabwe stutter from the start.
Mashrafee had another opening spell blast that left Zimbabwe 2-22 and Rubel made it 3-39 before the skipper turned to his spinners, who accomplished their job in perfect manner.
Sunny induced an edge from Solomon Mire (12) as Sakib trapped Taylor leg before for 28 to end the game as a contest.
Elton Chigumbura’s unbeaten 53 only delayed the inevitable as Sunny mopped up the tail to make his figure 4-27.
-With New Age input
