Half-centuries from Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar drove Bangladesh to a comfortable win over Zimbabwe in the first T20I, on Thursday, 22 July. They chased down 153 with seven balls to spare.
Earlier, Zimbabwe rode on handy contributions from Regis Chakabva (43 off 22) and Dion Myers (35 off 22) to post 152. They were 91/3 after 10 overs, but the rest of the batters failed to capitalise in the second half of the innings.
Mustafizur Rahman struck in his first over, getting Tadiwanashe Marumani caught by Soumya Sarkar. Marumani’s exit brought Chakabva to the crease. Chakabva added 64 with Wesley Madhevere for the second wicket before getting run out for 43.
Dion Myers held the innings from one end as wickets kept falling from the other. Myers made 35 before getting bowled by Shoriful Islam. Luke Jongwe’s 16-ball 18 propelled Zimbabwe to 152 in 20 overs.
For Bangladesh, Mustafizur Rahman picked up three wickets, while Shoriful and Mohammad Saifuddin picked up two wickets each.
Bangladesh then got off the rollicking start. An opening stand of 102 between Naim and Sarkar took the sting out of the contest.
Naim was watchful in the beginning but broke the shackles with three fours off Richard Ngarava in the fourth over. He remained unbeaten on 63, while Sarkar made 50 before getting run out. Nurul Hasan then finished off things with a six and four en-route 8-ball 16 to take the visitors past the finishing line.
Brief Scores: Zimbabwe 152 in 19 overs (Regis Chakabva 43; Mustafizur Rahman 3-31) lost to Bangladesh 153/2 in 18.5 overs (Mohammad Naim 63*) by 8 wickets with 7 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Soumya Sarkar.