Bangladesh were able to secure victory in the second ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare on Sunday despite twice suffering a collapse in their chase, thanks to an excellent saviour act from all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan.
Shakib brought all his ability and experience to the fore in helping the visitors stay afloat amid two genuinely precarious situations and eventually come out triumphant by three wickets.
Chasing a score of 241, Bangladesh found themselves 75/4 at one stage, having lost openers Tamim Iqbal (20), Liton Das (21) prematurely and also middle-order batsmen Mohammad Mithun (2), Mosaddek Hossain (5) without them troubling the scorers much.
No.3 Shakib, however, held the fort firmly amidst all this and led his team’s recovery in an important fifth-wicket stand with Mahmudullah (28). But just when it seemed that Shakib and Mahmudullah have brought things under control, the tourists lost three further quick wickets, including that of Mahmudullah, to be left 173/7 in the 39th over of the chase.
Having reached past fifty along the way, Shakib batted expertly with the lower-order men to ensure victory for Bangladesh when it could’ve easily faced defeat. Shakib ended with an outstanding 96 not out and has been named POTM for a spell of 2/42 in the first half.
Much of the credit for making the second half so exciting goes to Zimbabwe bowlers, who bowled with superb discipline throughout the second innings but lost to one exceptional knock from Shakib. Luke Jongwa (2/46) picked up two wickets, while Blessing Muzurabani (1/31), Richard Ngarava (1/33), Wesley Madhevere (1/39) and Sikandar Raza (1/33) shared a scalp apiece.
While they stuttered in the chase and were saved by Shakib in the end, Bangladesh were certainly more clinical in the way they performed in the first half. Shoriful Islam ended with eye-catching figures of 4/46 and had Taskin Ahmed (1/38), Mehidy Hasan (1/34) and Shakib bowling economical spells around him.
Madhevere was the top scorer for Zimbabwe with a knock of 56 as the home team lacked one stand-out innings after winning the toss and opting to bat. Regis Chakabva (26), captain Brendan Taylor (40), Dion Myers (34) and Raza (30) got starts, but no one played that substantial knock which Zimbabwe needed to take their score near the 270-280 mark.
Having lost the opening game as well, Zimbabwe conceded an unassailable 2-0 series lead to Bangladesh, who are progressing quite well in the ICC Super League ladder.
Brief scores
Zimbabwe 240/9 in 50 overs (Wesley Madhevere 56, B Taylor 46, Shoriful Islam 4/46) lost to Bangladesh 242/7 in 49.1 overs (Shakib al Hasan 96*, Luke Jongwe 2/46) by 3 wickets.
