In a thrilling match, Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by five wickets in the fourth of the five-match T20I series at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium on Friday to take a 4-0 lead in the series.
Being sent to bat first after losing the toss, Bangladesh appeared to be cruising towards a big total, with openers Soumya Sarkar (41) and Tanzid Hasan Tamim (52) forging a 101-run partnership for the first wicket. However, Tanzid's dismissal, caught after mistiming a shot, triggered an inexplicable collapse.
The middle and lower order crumbled under pressure, succumbing to a series of poor shot selections and dismissals.
After the openers, only Towhid Hridoy managed a double-digit score (12) as the remaining batters fell cheaply, with Luke Jongwe claiming three wickets for Zimbabwe.
The collapse exposed the fragility of Bangladesh's batting lineup. Shakib Al Hasan, returning to T20Is after nine months, and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto both departed without showing any intention to fight back.
Shanto's dismissal, clean bowled attempting an extravagant shot, and Shakib's bowled through a gap between bat and pad, proved the lack of application and composure from the experienced players.
Despite the initial promise of a high score, Bangladesh's innings ended at a disappointing 143, leaving them with a challenging task to defend against Zimbabwe.
Chasing 144 runs, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 138 runs with 2 balls in hand. Jonathan Campbell scored the maximum 31 runs in batting for Zimbabwe.
Mostafizur Rahman, who came to play the first match of the series, became the man of the match with 3 wickets at the cost of 19 runs.
MSH
