Zimbabwe Vs Bangladesh Third T20 International Played at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium Khulna on 20 January 2015

Zimbabwe 187/6 (V Sibanda 44, M Waller 44, H Masakadaza 20, R Mutumbami 20, Shakib Al Hasan 3/32, Abu Hider 2/40) beat Bangladesh 156/6 (Sabbir Rahman 50, Nurul Hasan 30*, Soumya Sarkar 25, AG Cremer 3/18 and Sikandar Raza 2/7) by 31 runs

Player of theMatch: MN Waller

DHAKA: A complacent Bangladesh making wholesale change in the winning combination embraced defeat by vastly improved Zimbabwe by 31 runs in the third T20 international. The four-match series now stands at 2-1 in favor of the tigers raising the prospect of the visitors squaring the series.

Batting first Zimbabwean batsmen exploited the debutants nervous moments and batting aggressively put up a decent score of 187/6 in allotted overs. Shell shocked Bangladesh with depleted side could manage only 156/6. The premature ambitious experiment of team management proved counterproductive. Perhaps such experiments could be done in the fourth match after wrapping up the series. Bangladesh lost the winning momentum. Now they may struggle to recover from the shock in the last match.

Bangladesh won the first two matches comfortably though Zimbabwe had their moments in those matches as well. Some key players got injured but with them dropping other three and replacing them with four rookies were a huge gamble. We all know in gambling you win some but loose many. Bangladesh lost and they must blame only themselves for arrogance and complacency.

Bangladesh, despite its recent successes, ranks much lower than Zimbabwe in ICC T20 ranking. This Zimbabwe team has Dave Whatmore and Marvan Attapatu in their think tank.

It was good making few experiments in the first two matches to try and work out ideal team combination for T20 matches where Bangladesh is still maturing. Bangladesh won the first two matches without being fully stretched. A win in the third match could secure the series.

The last match could be the ideal occasion for testing few rookies. But making five changes of a winning combination caused Bangladesh losing the winning momentum. Once it is lost it will not be easy in getting it back. Zimbabwe, under a changed coaching management, has made gradual improvement. Now Tigers will be forced in bringing back all its top dog excepting the injured players.

The visitors winning the toss rightly decided batting first putting enormous pressure on fresh look Bangladesh attack. Three new pacers Abu Hider, Mohammad Shahid and Muktar Ali had baptism under fire.

Experienced H Masakadza and V Sibanda counter punched cruising to 45 by the end of fourth over before Masakadza got out to a good catch by Mossadek off Shahid. But Sibanda and Mutumbami kept the runs flowing. All the top order batsmen were on song. Even experienced Mashrafe and Shakib could not stem the flow of runs. Shakib struck double blows but by then the visitors’ was innings on track.

Waller and Williams took up after Sibanda and Mutubami left. Zimbabwe maintained a rate of over 9-run per over all the way. All of top five batsmen made contributions. Waller (49), Sibanda (44), Williams (32) were the major contributors.

Six of the seven bowlers that Mashrafe used averaged 8 or more. Even the fielding excepting some great catches by Sabbir was very ordinary on the day. Visitors were already in the driving seat with 187/6. Shakib bowled at his brilliant best although he was also attacked by Waller and Sibanada. His 3/32 made him reach a personal milestone.

A sound opening partnership was the order of the day in pursuit of the difficult chase. But experienced Imrul Kayes failed. This created enormous pressure on young pair Soumya and Sabbir. They played too many strokes and were living dangerously in keeping up with the asking rate. In-form Sabbir played several delightful strokes. But Soumya was looking easy. He was given few reprieves.

However, 67 runs second wicket partnership kept Bangladesh in the hunt. But Mashrafe made a major mistake in the match holding back the most effective batsman Shakib in such situation. Sending him at number four was a must in the match situation when nine plus runs per over was required for the win. Sending inexperienced Mosaddek was a huge aberration. Even sending Nurul Hasan or even Mashrafe as pinch hitter at this stage could have been far better.

Sabbir also failed to convert his brilliant innings to a match winning one. Still, his 50 in 32 deliveries created situation for cameos from Shakib and Mahmudullah. Both unfortunately had soft dismissals. These made the task for rookies Nurul Hasan and Muktar Ali extremely difficult. Yet they tried. Their 49 runs unfinished 7th wicket partnership saved Bangladesh from greater humiliation.

Nurul Hasan played several innovative strokes in his unbeaten 30 runs in 17 deliveries. Muktar also looked good in his unbeaten 19 runs. But these were too little too less. Sensing the victory the visitors bowled and fielding aggressively. Bangladesh looked like very ordinary team against the spin of Cremer and Sikandar Raza.

Absence of two key batsmen -- Tamim and Mushfiqur -- in Bangladesh top order mandated experienced professionals like Imrul Kayes, Sabbir and Mahmudullah in particular shouldering major responsibilities. But all three failed. Batting order in a difficult chase was questionable. We found little logic in not playing Shakib and Mahmudullah higher in the order. Even Mashrafe batting as pinch hitter could make some contributions. Youngsters were exposed to fire doing no favor to them.

We are sure that there will be huge post-match analysis and post mortem. But so many experiments in a match which ideally should have targeted for wrapping up the series proved counterproductive. Zimbabwe has played so many matches in different formats recently. Finally, their bowling and batting seem to have clicked. They must thank Bangladesh team think tank for letting them easier opportunity to regroup.

By bringing as many as four debutants in the match selectors have not done justice to any one of them. Bangladesh should have played Arafat Sunny, Tamim and Taskin if they were not unfit. Why Nasir is not in the consideration? Creating a winning momentum in international cricket takes lot of doing. Bangladesh is not a team like Australia. The series was not won yet. So many changes in one match can easily upset team chemistry.

People learn from mistakes. There are no doubts that Bangladesh made mistakes and we only expect that they would learn lessons from these.

BDST: 0858 HRS, JAN 21, 2016
SR