Bangladesh tour of Zimbabwe 2021 News

With a win over Zimbabwe in the first match of the three-match T20I series at Harare Sports Club, Harare, on Thursday, July 22, Bangladesh entered into an elite league of countries with victory in their 100th game of all formats. While this was their 100th T20I, where they defeated Zimbabwe by eight wickets, their 100th Test win came against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2017 when they chased down 191 in the fourth innings. Their ODI milestone however dates way back to 2004 when the Tigers stunned India by 15 runs in Dhaka. Two other nations to have achieved the same feat are Australia and Pakistan and among the three only Australia has won the first and 100th game of all three formats that they have played. Overall, Bangladesh have played 124 Tests and won only 15, losing 92 and drawing 17. They have a win percentage of 12.09. In ODIs, the team has played 388 games, winning 136 and losing 245 while seven of their games have had no result whatsoever. Their win percentage remains 35.69. In the shortest format, their record isn’t that good either as in 100 matches they have lost 65 and won only 35 with a win percentage of 35.

Bangladesh batsman and also an accurate slow medium pacer, Somya Sarkar does not see himself in competition with anyone esle as he said that the process of comparing himself with others put him under a lot of pressure. He outlined the role of working on “certain areas” of his game and becoming “mentally fit” to turn things around in the T20 series against Zimbabawe. "When I was out of the team, I practiced with purpose, particularly during the DPL T20s. I will continue to focus on certain areas of my game. I have to be more mentally fit to be more consistent. My biggest competition is with myself. If I think of competing with others, it puts pressure on me. I want to do well myself, and get back my place in the team," Sarkar said. Sarkar was awarded Man of the Match award in the first T20 against Zimbabwe for a 45-ball 50 and one-wicket spell, but he had to go through an indiffrent start. He conceded his nervousness returning to international cricket after a period of four months, but said that the first six helped him unshackle the rustiness. "I was playing my first international match after four months so I felt a bit shaky at the start. When some of my first shots were going to hand, I told myself to take a bit of time. A four or a six would open things up for me, I thought. When I got a preferred ball and struck the six, I got my confidence back,” Sarkar said. Sarkar said that he was unaware of his batting position until the innings break when the coach told him of the opening opportunity with Mohammad Naim. He also commended his opening partner for taking the initiiave and providing impetus to the Bangladesh’ batting in the chase of 153 runs. "I was supposed to bat at No 3, but the coach told me at the innings break that I would be opening in Liton's place. I had to prepare myself mentally, and speak to the new partner and bat according to the conditions. When we were going slow at the start, I told Naim that one big over will bring the flow in our favour. When he struck those three fours in the fourth over, things changed quickly," he said. The second T20 of the series between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh is underway at the Harare Sports Club and the hosts are in advantageous position to square the series with one more match to go.

At the start of their innings when Regis Chakabva and Wesley Madhevere were hitting all Bangladeshi bowlers all over the park, even a total of 200 was in sight for the Zuimababweasn. But as has been the case in this entire three format tour, as soon as the settled batsmen got out, it became exceedingly difficult for the men in Red and Gold to score runs and they eventually folded for 152 in the 19th over itself, unable to complete even their designated 20 overs. Bangladesh openers Soumya Sarkar and Mohammad Naim then gave the Tigers an emphatic start, adding 102 runs for the opening wicket. The visitors seemed to be rolling across to the victory rope pretty fine unless two quick wickets and some tight overs by Luke Jongwe and Wellington Masakadza meant that Bangladesh suddenly required 27 from the last three overs. With options of Jongwe, himself and Madhevere to chose for, skipper Sikandar Raza went for an audacious choice for Richard Ngarava who had till then conceded 30 in his three overs. The choice didn’t work out well for him as the bowler conceded 16 in the 18th over and left only 11 runs to defend in the last two. Much like in the last ODI, Nurul Hasan Sohan, who joined Naim at the crease after Mahmudullah’s dismissal, seemed in a hurry to finish the game. He hit Blessing Muzarabni for a six on the second ball of the 19th over to bring the equation down to 4 from 10 balls. Naim then hit Muzarabani for a four on the fourth ball to finish the game. While 21-year-old Naim remained unbeaten 63 from 51 balls, Sohan hit 16 from 8 balls. Sarkar, who got run out after hitting his fifty from45 balls having already picked a wicket in the first innings in his two overs was adjudged Man of the Match. The two teams will meet again tomorrow on July 23 at the same venue and while Zimbabwe would look to save the series and stretch it to the finale on July 25, Bangladesh would look to make it 2-0 and win this series to win all formats on this tour.

Bangladesh’s ODI captain and senior statesman Tamim Iqbal has been advised by the team’s and Board’s medical unit to take six to eight week’s of rest to get himself ready for the T20 World Cup in October-November. Hence after the third ODI in Zimbabwe, the 32-year-old, who hit a century to lead Bangladesh to a 3-0 whitewash over the hosts will fly back home and not take part in the following T20I series. Tamim however is not the only one asked to prepone their trip back home as the Bangladesh team prepares to welcome Australia who would be flying to Dhaka in late July and play a five-match T20I series beginning August 2nd. "Tamim will return home alongside Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam from the ODI side," Minhajul Abedin, Bangladesh's chief selector was quoted as saying to Espncricinfo. The injury of Tamim is not recent and is supposed to date back to April when the Tigers toured Sri Lanka for two-match Test series. To avoid any serious drawback ahead of the World Cup, the BCB was forced to take this precautionary step on the advice of doctors. "Tamim has been advised to rest for six to eight weeks. He won't be able to play against Australia [in August] and New Zealand [in September] at home, but he might play against England [in October],” he added. To compensate for those players, the board has asked others, originally not part of the T20I squad to stay back for the series which itself was preponed by two days and will now end on August 25 instead of August 27, according to the original schedule. “We have asked Rubel (Hossain), (Mohammad) Mithun and Mosaddek (Hossain) to stay back with the T20I side as part of our contingency plan for the Australia series,” said Abedin. The reason behind such plans was the Covid-19 bio-bubble security ahead of the all-important Australia series as disclosed by the BCB "We have to keep players in quarantine for ten days ahead of the Australia series bio-bubble. We want to have as many options as possible as we won't be able to call up players from outside the bio-bubble,” it said. Having already won the ODI series and the one-off Test, Bangladesh would look to remain ruthless in the T20Is against Zimbabwe too with the first of three being played on July 22 at the Harare Sports Club.

Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal finally hit form as he hit a fine century to lead his team to a five-wicket win in the third and final ODI of the three-match series against hosts Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. With this win, Bangladesh registered a 3-0 whitewash over the Brendan Taylor led team, which was playing in absence of regular skipper Sean Williams who was ruled out due to injury. Along with the whitewash, the Tigers gained valuable 10 Cricket World Cup Super League points to remain at the top of the table. Chasing a huge total of 299, the Bangladeshi team started off brilliantly with the opening pair of Liton Das and Tamim adding 88 in the first 14 overs. Even as Liton was removed by Wesley Madhevere, the best Zimbabwean bowler on the day, the Men in Green and Red continued powering on. Tamim then got useful contributions from Shakib Al Hasan and Mohammad Mithun to get to his hundred. However, there came a turn in the game when the match would have gone to any side when both Tamim and Mahmudullah got out in two successive deliveries from Donald Tiripano and the Tigers still needed 95 to win from 96 balls. However new batsmen in Nurul Hasan showed exactly why he was picked into the squad after a gap of almost five years as he took the attack to the opposition scoring a quickfire 45 from 39 balls to lead his team to the victory. He was well supported by Afif Hossain who hit 26 off just 17 balls and continued his good form in the series. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss Bangladesh asked Zimbabwe to bat first and Regis Chakabava accepted the offer with open hands hitting his highest individual ODI score of 84 off just 91 balls. Later on, quick fifties from Sikandar Raza (57 off 54) and Ryan Burl (59 off 43) helped the team in Red and Gold get past 270 and then target even 300. Hadn’t Mohammad Saifuddin got three wickets in the 49th over, it was very much possible. Zimbabwe lost their last five wickets under 14 runs and 12 balls. While Tamim was announced Man of the Match, Shakib, for his 145 runs and eight wickets in the three matches was adjudged Man of the Series. The two teams will now compete in the three-match T20I series starting Thursday, July 22.

The upcoming T20 series between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh has been preponed and it will now conclude on July 25 instead of the earlier scheduled date of July 27, Zimbabwe Cricket said in a tweet. The three-game series was supposed to be played on July 23, 25 and 27 but now it will be played on July 22, 23 and 25 as per the revised schedule. However, there is no change in the venue of matches and all of them will be played at the Harare Sports Club in Harare. Bangladesh are on a full tour of Zimbabwe comprising of all formats of the game. In the only Test of the series, the tourists register a big victory by 220 runs and they have also sealed the three-match long ODI series by winning the first two games so far. Zimbabwe have not been able to put up a strong fight against Bangladesh and a gulf between the sides have been brutally exposed by a quality Bangladeshi side. Both the list of leading wicket-taker and highest run-scorer across the Test and ODI series have been dominated by Bangladesh players and Zimbabwe have been handed a harsh reality check about the state of their game.