Bangladesh kept them alive in the semifinal race of the T20 World Cup after a dramatic 3-run win over familiar foes Zimbabwe at the Gabba stadium on Sunday.
The crucial game that turned like pendulum, Bangladesh finally had the last tough despite a blunder made by wicket-keeper Nurul Hasan Sohan.
As Zimbabwe needed five runs to win the game from the last ball of the innings, Sohan inflicted stumping out on Blessing Muzarabani, sending whole stadium, mostly occupied by the expatriate Bangladeshi into delirium.
The whole Bangladesh team in fact walked out with huge jubilation and shook hands with the coaching staffs also. But the drama unfolded then.
The umpires found that Sohan collected the ball in front of the stumps and called it a no-ball as per the law, giving Zimbabwe another life line. However No.10 batter Muzarabani this time also failed to connect the ball as Zimbabwe were held back to 147-8, in reply to Bangladesh’s 150-7.
Earlier in the match against South Africa, Sohan moved while Shakib Al Hasan was en route to deliver the ball, forcing Bangladesh to taste five penalty runs. Here fortunately his over enthusiasm didn’t Bangladesh cost much.
With limited resources on the board, fast bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahaman bowled beautifully to curb the aggression of the Zimbabwe batters. Seasoned campaigner Sean Williams is the only one to offer some resistance with 42 ball-64 that included eight fours.
He was the one to keep Zimbabwe alive but when Shakib Al Hasan ran him out with a direct hit in the penultimate over, Bangladesh turned out to be favourite to win the game. Ryan Burl was stranded with 25 ball-27 not out.
Taskin gave Bangladesh in the first over, removing Wessly Madhevere (4) and then in his next over, dismissed captain Craig Ervine (8), putting Bangladesh on top.
He finished with 3-19 to be the Bangladesh’s best bowler on that day. After Taskin’s initial carnage, Mustafizur took over and stifled Zimbabwe in the middle overs as his 2-15 in four overs provided the impetus that Bangladesh needed amid Williams’ stubborn effort.
Mosaddek then turned out to be the hero in the last over, with two scalps as Zimbabwe needed 16 runs to win.
Earlier, opener Najmul Hossain Shanto finally paid off the faith put on him, hitting his maiden half-century as Bangladesh racked up 150-7.
Shanto indeed lived up to the expectation on a day when it mattered most. As the game turned out to be almost a must win game for Bangladesh, he kept the side in the hunt despite an early setback.
He finally was dismissed on 71 off 55, striking seven fours and one six.
After deciding to bat first, Bangladesh lost opener Soumya Sarkar for duck after he poked a delivery of fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani towards cover.
Liton Das got a start with a flurry of boundaries but again failed to convert it to a big knock. Muzarabani was the bowler again to dismiss him for 14.
Shanto and captain Shakib Al Hasan then looked to bail the side out of danger as Bangladesh slowly but smoothly went towards safety.
However the introduction of Sean Williams helped Zimbabwe get a crucial breakthrough as he removed Shakib for 23, ending a 54-run partnership between him and Shanto.
Shanto brought up his fifty off 45 balls, which was bit slower but looked to make up as he went on berserk. But he couldn’t continue it for long as Sikandar Raza got rid of him.
Bangladesh as usually failed to capitalize the advantage of powerplay despite a plenty of wickets at hands. In the last five overs, they were able to score just 47 for four wickets with Shanto alone taking 16 runs in the 16th over.However Afif Hossain’s 19 ball-29 helped them reach 150-run mark.
MS
