Bangladesh secured victory in the 1st Test match against Zimbabwe by 3 wickets. Bangladesh achieved the trivial target of 101 runs on the 3rd day of the match.
Match Report: Bangladesh V Zimbabwe; 1st Test match, 3rd Day, Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur; 25, 26, 27 October 2014 (5-day match)
Quite simple in the beginning, it turned out to be a nail-biting contest with Bangladesh winning it in a dramatic way.
Bowling remained the actual winner for Bangladesh in the test match against Zimbabwe. This was a much needed victory as it broke the 12-matches losing streak of Bangladesh across all formats of cricket, also first one in the calendar year against a full member team.
Calm, composed and properly executed bowling didn’t let the guests to display much of their talent. And among bowlers Taijul Islam turned out to be the real hero. He became first Bangladeshi bowler to grasp 8 wickets in an innings.
Taijul’s maestro bowling stunned the guests as he didn’t let any of the Zimbabwe’s batsmen to settle on the crease. One after the other batsmen became prey of Taijul ruthless attack. Sikandar Raza showed some spark & hit 2 back to back sixes but caught on the very next ball trying to hit another six. Taylor remained the highest scorer with 45* runs.
Taijul’s awesome display of bowling should have made victory a piece of cake for Bangladesh but thanks to batsmen’s chaotic show that at one moment victory seems to be slipping away from their hands and n the end left with Taijul to hit the winning shot while batting at no 9.
Three top Bangladeshi batsmen bagged ducks leaving the score 0 for 3. This is third time in the Test cricket history that scores reads 0 for 3. Elton Chigumbura was lethal with the new ball; he took 4 timely wickets thus giving a new life to Zimbabwe & reviving their hopes of an unexpected victory.
After getting rid of Tamim Iqbal, Mominul Haque and Shamsur Rahman on 0, Zimbabwe was trying to not let Mahmudullah and Shakib Al Hasan settle on the crease. They showed some resistance and together scored some 46 runs before Shakib Al Hassan became victim of Tendai Chatara leaving his team at 46-4. Mahmudullah was next to depart.
The hosts were 82 for 7 still 19 runs away from victory with Mushfiqur Rahim on crease, their last hope. Zimbabwe was handy with the pressure tactics as it’s the only way they could panic the hosts and seize a surprising victory but Rahim was clear that the target was small & what they need is patience to achieve it. He also tried his best to not let Taijul feel the pressure on the other end and took the team towards success.
Scorecard:
Bangladesh 254 (Mushfiqur 64, Mahmudullah 63, Mominul 53, Panyangara 5-59) and 101 for 7 (Chigumbura 4-21) beat Zimbabwe 240 (Raza 51, Shakib 6-59) and 114 (Taylor 45*, Taijul 8-39) by three wickets
Man of the Match: Taijul Islam (Bangladesh)