Bishwajit Roy
Shakib Al Hasan celebrated his ascent in the rankings with another all-round performance as Bangladesh won the fog-curtailed third and final one-day match against Zimbabwe by six wickets to clinch the series 2-1 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur yesterday.
Recovering from a shocking two-wicket defeat in the first game, the Tigers bounced back strongly in the series thanks to a determined effort from the bowlers and there was no exception in the series-deciding third game as they restricted Zimbabwe for 119-9 after the match was reduced to 37-overs-a-side, due to dense fog in the morning.
Man-of-the-series Shakib, who became the first Bangladeshi to top the ICC’s all-rounder ranking, followed up his 3 for 15 with an unbeaten 33 as Bangladesh reached the target of 121 with six wickets in hand in 32.3 overs.
But it was pace spearhead Mashrafe Bin Mortaza who set the tone after Mohammad Ashraful continued his purple patch with the toss, to put his opponents in first in front of a nearly 20,000 holiday crowd.
Man-of-the-match Mashrafe exploited the conditions brilliantly to make the early breakthroughs; the right-arm pacer picked up three top order batsmen before the spinners led by the in-form Shakib took charge to contain the runs as well as making sure that wickets fell at regular intervals.
Bangladesh took control from the very first over when Mashrafe trapped Vusimusi Sibanda plumb in front while in his third over Hamilton Masakadza fended a catch to Mehrab at second slip and Stuart Matsikenyeri saw his stumps uprooted soon after to see Zimbabwe tottering at 31-3.
Like in the second match, resistance came from Sean Williams who made a 46-ball 38 which included five boundaries before being bowled by spinner Mahmudullah Riyad, who also got the wicket of Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya. Number eight Keith Oebenguya remained not out on 21 but their effort was not good enough to test the home team.
In reply, Bangladesh made a solid start with Tamim Iqbal bludgeoning some impressive boundaries against the seamers. But the young southpaw resorted to a shocking piece of calling to contribute to the demise of his partner Mehrab Hossain and end the 38 run opening stand.
Tamim looked set but failed to carry on when he edged a wide delivery by lanky Christopher Mpofu to Tatenda Taibu for a 49-ball 34 that featured five fours. Tigers skipper Ashraful then continued his lean patch adjudged leg-before off Ray Price after an extra cautious innings, which saw him contribute 3 off 31 deliveries. Ashraful however was unlucky as TV replay showed that the ball from left-armer Ray Price was clearly missing leg although local umpire Enamul Haque raised his finger.
Rokibul Hasan got the chase moving with consecutive boundaries off Mpofu but was the second lbw victim of Price, courtesy of a superb piece of innovation from the bowler. The spinner could have had another scalp to his belt if Williams had not floored Shakib’s chance at deep midwicket when the batsman was on naught.
Shakib cashed in on the chance to take the team over the finishing line with 27 balls remaining along with Mushfiqur Rahim who finished the match in style by pulling Elton Chigumbura through midwicket.
Bangladesh breathed a collective sigh of relief as the Tigers finally confirmed, after two consecutive defeats, what they had believed would be a regulation series win against the African side.
Courtesy: thedailystar.net
