Hosts Zimbabwe have managed a fighting total of 152 runs at a loss of all wickets in 19 overs in the first Twenty20 international against Bangladesh at Harare Sports Club ground on Thursday.
Regis Chakabva and Dion Myers were the spine of Zimbabwe innings. Chakabva hit 43 off 22 balls with the help of five 4’s and two 6’s while Myers scored 35 off 22 with the help of two 4’s.
Other noteworthy scores were 23 off 23 by Wessley Madhevere and 18 off 16 by Luke Jongwe.
At one stage Zimbabwe were looking like posing a steep target of somewhere around 180-190 when Chakabva was ruling over the Tiger bowlers. The hosts scored 64 in six overs between 2.0 and 8.1 overs. From there regular fall of wicket restricted Zimbabwe to 152, thanks to some tight bowling by Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman and Shoriful Islam.
Mustafizur picked up three wickets giving away 31 runs in his four overs, while Saifuddin and Shoriful took two wickets each. Shakib and Soumya Sarkar shared the remaining two among them.
Earlier in the day, Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza won the toss and decided to bat first.
The match against Zimbabwe is the 100th game in the format for Bangladesh. In their previous 99 matches, Tigers have won 32 games and lost 65 so far.
Bangladesh played their first T20I match against Zimbabwe in Khulna on 28 November, 2006. The Tigers won their 100th Test and ODI matches.
Teams
Bangladesh: Mohammad Naim, Liton Das (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Mahmudullah (capt), Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Shoriful Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
Zimbabwe: Regis Chakabva (wk), Tadiwanashe Marumani, Tarisai Musakanda, Dion Myers, Wessley Madhevere, Sikandar Raza (capt), Ryan Burl, Donald Tiripano, Luke Jongwe, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava