Zimbabwe whitewashed 5-0

Sport
Taijul Islam’s hat-trick, the first by an ODI debutant, spun Zimbabwe out for 128 and spurred Bangladesh to their second 5-0 series win yesterday.

Bangladesh 130 for 5 (Mahmudullah 51*, Chatara 3-44) beat Zimbabwe 128 (Masakadza 52, Taijul 4-11, Shakib 3-30) by five wickets

MIRPUR — Taijul Islam’s hat-trick, the first by an ODI debutant, spun Zimbabwe out for 128 and spurred Bangladesh to their second 5-0 series win yesterday.

The home side won with 25,3 overs and five wickets to spare, with Mahmudullah and Sabbir Rahman unbeaten on 51 and 13 respectively.

Taijul Islam
Taijul Islam

Bangladesh’s spin attack was the story of the match.

Taijul, replacing Rubel Hossain, took his first ODI wicket at the start of the 27th over, trapping Solomon Mire lbw.

Two balls into the start of the 29th, he had four wickets and had completed his hat-trick, with the wickets of Tinashe Panyangara, John Nyumbu and Tendai Chatara.

Tinashe Panyangara,
Tinashe Panyangara,

Taijul became the fourth Bangladesh bowler to take a hat-trick, after Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak and Rubel.

Panyangara left a big gap between pad and bat and Taijul duly slid one through. Nyumbu went on the back foot and missed a quicker and flatter delivery, which struck his pads right in front of the stumps.

Chatara seemed as eager as the bowler to complete the hat-trick, swinging across the line and leaving his stumps unprotected. Chatara missed, and Taijul slammed his chest in celebration.

When Shakib Al Hasan took the tenth wicket in the 29th over, Taijul was summoned to lead the team off the field.

He had finished with figures of 7-2-11-4, and walked off with a sheepish smile on his face with his teammates slapping him on his back.

After the 10-minute innings break, Bangladesh started their chase poorly.

Tamim Iqbal guided one to third-man, Anamul Haque and Shakib edged catches to slip, and debutant Soumya Sarkar gave leg slip a dolly.

Tamim Iqbal
Tamim Iqbal

The top order’s breakdown was reminiscent of Bangladesh’s second innings in the Dhaka Test, but it was nothing compared to Zimbabwe’s implosion.

Mahmudullah steered them home in the end, finishing unbeaten for the third match in a row and scoring his fourth international half-century of the season.

Taijul’s wickets came at the back end of the collapse, with Shakib Al Hasan finishing with three wickets and Jubair Hossain picking up two including the wicket of Hamilton Masakadza, who had till that point been the hero of the match.

— Cricinfo