Zimbabwe 156 for 8 (Burl 54, Jongwe 35, Mahedi 2-28) beat Bangladesh 146 for 8 (Afif 39*, Mahmudullah 27, Nyauchi 3-29) by 10 runs
Zimbabwe clinched their maiden T20I series win over a higher-ranked side when they beat Bangladesh by 10 runs in the third game in Harare.
The home side roused a full-house crowd by lifting themselves from 67 for 6 to finish on a competitive 156 for 8, before restricting Bangladesh to 146 for 8 in 20 overs.
Zimbabwe had only recently won the T20 World Cup qualifier. They beat West Indies in a one-off match in 2010, toppled Scotland 2-1 in 2021 and won a tri-nation tournament in Singapore also featuring Nepal in 2019.
But this marks their first ever series win over a Full Member in bilateral T20I cricket.
With his side hanging by a thread at 76 for 6, Ryan Burl took 34 runs off Nasum Ahmed in the 15th over, equaling the second-most runs taken in a T20I over.
He is no stranger to big overs against Bangladesh, having struck 30 runs off a Shakib Al Hasan in an over, three years ago.
In the end, Burn and Jongwe’s 79 runs in 5.1 overs even found a place in the record books.
No team in the history of T20Is has had their seventh wicket pair come in at such a low score (67 for 6) and made at least 50 runs at such a high strike-rate.
Bangladesh never recovered from the big hitting as they lost three early wickets, and then went through 49 balls without hitting a single boundary. But they also missed a few tricks, starting from the first over.
Mossadek Hossain, Bangladesh captain said Burl was the turning point for Zimbabwe.
“From the beginning to the 15th over we were ahead but after the 15th over we were out of control of the match. Ryan Burl made a difference from this match. Batting wise, we lost wickets too early so this is the difference,” Hossain said.
“From the beginning, our bowling was very good. From the beginning, you have to trust your main bowlers, but it happens in T20 cricket. Everyone knows how good we are with ODIs, obviously we are very confident going into the ODIs.”
Zimbabwean coach Dave Houghton was delighted by his team’s performance on Tuesday, adding that he is encouraging players to play positive cricket.
“I am delighted with the guys, the way they have been playing cricket from the qualifiers. We talked a couple of times, on the brand of cricket we wanted to play which is where we take the positive approach. We never give in on that. Today we were in a tricky position and a couple of players came down the order and got us a match wining score. So, I am happy with the cricket we are playing, I hope it continues for a long time,” Houghton said.
Crininfo/TheNewsReportLive
