Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam gave selectors a sweet headache before the World Cup picking up a hat-trick on his one-day international debut to set up a five-wicket win over Zimbabwe in Dhaka on Monday. Bangladesh completed 5-0 sweep in the five-match series thanks to this win but gained more than what they have expected with Taijul responding to his inclusion in the one-day side in grand style.
The left-arm spinner was earlier branded only suitable for Test and therefore kept waiting until the fifth game of the dead rubber to try his trick in ODI format.
He took little time show his credential in the format going for just 11 runs in his first spell of five overs at a time when Hamilton Masakadza and Vusimuzi Sibanda were punishing other bowlers.
By the time he returned for his second spell Zimbabwe were already under-pressure losing two set batsmen to Sakib al Hasan and Jubair Hossain. It was the right kind of situation for Taijul to excel and he was immediately on his groove.
He trapped Solomon Mire leg-before for nine off the first ball of his second spell and what followed next is now a part of history.
Taijul bowled Tinashe Panyangara in the last ball of the over and returned to trap John Nyumbu leg- before and
bowl Tendai Chatara in the first two balls of his next over to complete the hat-trick.
It made Taijul the first bowler to grab a hat-trick on ODI debut and fourth Bangladeshi to achieve an ODI hat-trick after Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak and Rubel Hossain.
In his dream second spell of two overs, Taijul did not concede a single run and finished with 4-11. His figure could have been better if Sakib al Hasan had not ended Zimbabwe’s innings in the next over.
Before being overshadowed by Taijul, Sakib also bowled exceptionally well to return with 3- 30.
Leg-spinner Jubair Hossain also had his share in the demolition taking 2-41 as Zimbabwe collapsed from a fine start to be dismissed for 128 runs in 30 overs.
Masakadza made highest 52 runs and shared 79 runs with Sibanda (37), which remained as the only high point in Zimbabwe innings that saw last nine wickets falling for just 33 runs.
Panyangara and Chatara bowled 17 overs in tandem to make it a contest out of their low score, sharing five wickets between them before they completed their spell.
Openers Tamim Iqbal (10) and Anamul Haque (8) both fell cheaply before Zimbabwe outmaneuvered debutant Soumya Sarkar with short-bowling, removing him for 20.
When Sakib fell for a duck, Bangladesh began to worry though Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim steadied the innings quickly.
Mushfiq departed for 11, leaving the side tottering at 93-5 but Mahmudullah kept his composure to finish the game off.
He hit seamer Solomon Mire for two fours in successive balls to take Tigers to 130-5 in 24.4 overs, bringing his 11th fifty in the process.
Mushfiq was adjudged man-of-the-series for scoring 213 runs while Taijul was named-man-of-the- match.
-With New Age input
