ICC Emerging Player of the Year 2016: Mustafizur Rahman's Top 5 spells this year

#2 34/5 vs Zimbabwe at Mirpur, 11^th November, 2015

Rahman’s third five-wicket haul in ODIs helped Bangladesh whitewash the visiting Zimbabweans in the ODI series at home

After clinching the series by winning the first two ODIs, Bangladesh were eager to complete a whitewash against the Zimbabweans in the third ODI at Mirpur. Having won the toss, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza opted to bat first and thanks to scores of 73 each made by openers Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes, Bangladesh put up a total of 276/9 in their 50 overs.

In reply, Zimbabwe started to score quickly but lost three early wickets within the first ten overs, two of which were taken by Mustafizur Rahman. An 80-run partnership between Sean Williams and Elton Chigumbura kept Zimbabwe in the hunt. However, once Sean Williams was out for 64, Zimbabwe started feeling the pressure at 188 for 6.

At this point, Rahman was brought back into the attack and he ended Zimbabwe’s hopes of a consolation win by taking the next three wickets, thus achieving his third five-wicket haul of the year and his ODI career. Zimbabwe went on to lose the match by 61 runs and Bangladesh won the ODI series 3-0.