Bangladesh complete series whitewash over Zimbabwe after controversial Mahmudullah incident

Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe convincingly in all three matches to clinch a series whitewash

Bangladesh continued their superior domination on home soil as they defeated Zimbabwe by 61 runs in the third and final ODI to complete a whitewash in the three-match series. Powered by their openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes who both made 73, as well as a late flurry by Mahmudullah, Bangladesh scored 276 in their fifty overs, a total Zimbabwe always looked destined to fall short of.

Having beaten heavyweights like Pakistan, India and South Africa in their previous three ODI series’ at home, the Tigers made light work of the visitors as they won all three matches in convincing fashion much to the delight of the crowd that assembled at Mirpur on Wednesday.

Though already assured of a series victory, the hosts didn’t make any changes to the squad that won by 58 runs in the 2nd ODI two days ago. Kayes and Iqbal started cautiously as they looked to preserve wickets at the top and the move paid off as Bangladesh brought up their 100 up in the 24th over with all 10 wickets in hand.

After the openers fell with the score at 147 and 173 respectively, in-form Mushfiqur Rahim, who was promoted to the No 3 spot looked to be taking the game away from Zimbabwe as he raced ahead to a quick-fire 28. Following his dismissal, however, it was Mahmudullah who kept the scoring going with his first 50-plus score since the 2015 World Cup.

He was involved in a controversial incident in the 45th over as he seemed to have been found short of the crease. However, a lengthy decision-making process followed as some angles suggested that Chakabva seemed to have knocked down the bails with his gloves while others showed that he had made up for the error by uprooting the stumps.

The third-umpire finally ruled in favour of the batting side leading to an angry reaction from the visitors; at one point skipper Chigumbura seemed intent on calling his players off the field. Good sense prevailed however as play resumed with Mahmudullah eventually getting run-out in the final over after he had done the damage with his late strikes.

The Zimbabwean reply got off to the worst possible start as Chibhabha was dismissed off the second ball and were further reduced to 47/3 in the 9th over. Sean Williams tried to resurrect the chase with a well made 64, but none of the batsmen could produce that match-winning knock as Bangladesh cruised to victory.

Mustafizur Rahman picked up 5 wickets, but it was Tamim Iqbal who was awarded the Man of the Match while Mushfiqur Rahim picked up the Man of the Series award.