Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh in the second and final T20I to level the series 1-1

Malcolm Waller had a brilliant T20 series against Bangladesh

Zimbabwe registered its first win on the Bangladesh tour as they overcame the Tigers in a tightly contested second T20 match of the series. This was the African team’s last match on the tour, and they won it by 3 wickets on the penultimate ball of the match.

Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and chose to bat first on a flat Shere Bangla Stadium deck. The opening pair of Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes gave a decent enough start before Iqbal was ousted by Neville Madziva in the 4th over with 34 runs on the board and in the next over, Kayes gave away his wicket as well.

Anamul Haque, who walked out on number three scored 47 runs and was the last batsman to get out, however, he used 51 balls in his inning, which is quite a lot in a 20-over affair. Haque along with Sabbir Rehman constructed the largest partnership of Bangladesh innings as they added 39 runs for the fifth wicket.

The slow run-rate meant the Tigers could only manage a total of 135 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Tinashe Panyangara was the pick of bowlers, he bagged three wickets and bowled brilliantly in the death overs to restrict Bangladesh. Madziva and Graeme Cremer picked two wickets each.

The start of Zimbabwe innings was quite disappointing as both Sikandar Raza and Sean Williams got themselves out on two consecutive deliveries of the second over. Al-Amin Hossain picked both the wickets.

The other opener, Regis Chikabva was the next to fall with only 15 runs on the board for the African team. Zimbabwe were down to 39 for 5 by the ninth over and few would have placed their bets on them to win the match from this condition.

However, Malcolm Waller had different ideas as he scored quickfire 40 runs in 27 balls to give his team a chance. When he lost his wicket in the last over, Zimbabwe still needed another 18 runs off five balls.

Madziva blasted Nasir Hossain all over the park and scored 6,2,4,6 in the next four deliveries to finish off the match with a ball to spare. Al-Amin Hossain was the best bowler for Bangladesh, bagging three wickets in the match.

Waller was awarded Man-of-the-Series award for his heroics in both the matches.

Brief scores:Bangladesh 135/9 (20/20 ov)Zimbabwe 136/7 (19.5/20 ov)Zimbabwe won by 3 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)