Second T20 Match Bangladesh Vs Zimbabwe Played At Sheikh Abu Naser Cricket Stadium, Khulna

Bangladesh 167/3 ( Shabbir Rahman 43, Soumya Sarkar 43 ,Shakib Al Hasan 27* , Mushfiqur Rahim 24 , Tamim Iqbal 23) beat Zimbabwe 125 /8 ( H Masakadza 30, MN Waller 29, V Sibanda 21, Sabbir Rahman 3/11, Mustafizur Rahman 2/19) by 42 Runs

Player of the Match: Sabbir Rahman

Bangladesh playing wonderfully well for almost a year and a half now has proved a point that in limited over version they are too strong for Zimbabwe.

The two T20 matches they have played so far in the series let Bangladesh successfully accomplish few experiments in working out few experiments on team combinations.

Yesterday booming Bangladesh all-rounder Sabbir Rahman’s characteristic 43 in 33 balls and brilliant spell of leg spin bowling taking 3/11 earned Bangladesh another comfortable win by 42 runs over struggling Zimbabwe.

Batting first Bangladesh cruised to competitive 167/3 with almost all top order batsmen playing brief but significant innings. Zimbabwe started strongly racing to 50 in the opening stand by 7th over. But once champion leader Mashrafe cleaned out Sibanda an all-round Bangladesh bowling attack took the wind out of visitors sail.

Sabbir, Mustafiz, Shubhagato and Al Amin chipped in with wickets in rapid frequency. Visitors lost their way and lost the match by 42 runs. Tigers are tweeting towards another white wash.

Batting first Bangladesh made an impressive start with Tamim and Soumya both striking merrily in their 5.5 overs 45 runs opening stand before Tamim got out. Fall of this Wicket brought together the fluent partnership of Soumya and Shabbir.
Two quality emerging batsmen were matching strokes for strokes. Soumya finding his feet after a while unfortunately failed to convert his good looking innings to a substantially huge getting out to Cremer after scoring 43 off 33.

Mahmudullah came and went felling to fell to a superb catch by wicketkeeper Richmond Mutumbami. Mushfique was doing Ok but he had hamstring problem. Sabbir and Shakib combined in an unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 39 runs. It seems that Bangladesh is about to find the right batting order.

Mahmudullah will strike form Sonner or later. Whether or not Shakib is batting a bit lower down the order needs to be brain stormed .Off course return of Nasir as finisher will facilitate Shakib batting up the order.

167 /3 to my opinion was perhaps about 20 runs short despite of Bangladesh winning comfortably at the end eventually by 42 runs. Top order batsmen getting in and getting out may not win matches against stronger opposition.

Visitors again started strongly with openers Masakadza and Sbanda threatening to take the match away from Bangladesh. Captain cool Mashrafe brought him as the fifth bowler after Shakib, Subhagato, Al Amin and Mustafiz failing getting the breakthrough.

He removed Sibanda clean bowling him. Mashrafe played the masterstroke bringing on leg spinner Sabbir. Bangladesh is going to have another Shakib like world class all rounder.

Sabbir removed a dangerous looking Maskadza triggering a middle order collapse. His 3/11 in 2.1 over stalled the visitors batting. Mystery bowler had his routine double strikes over soon. Al Amin also got back his bearing removing the last hope Waller.

Zimbabwe could go as far as 125/8 by the end of their 20 overs. Bangladesh won by handsome margin by 42 runs. I am not sure this Zimbabwean team is ideal team for Bangladesh for productive preparation for major tournaments.

Bangladesh should bring back Nasir and Abu Haider for the remaining two matches. Imrul Kayes will possibly return giving Mushfique rest. Mashrafe may also rest giving Taskin some much needed match practice.

Bangladesh for making strong challenges in Asia Cup and World T20 will require regular performance of all-rounders like Shakib, Sabbir and Nasir. Bangladesh will also need 70-80 from top order batsmen regularly.

BDST:  1146 HRS, JAN 18, 2016
RS/SMS