The third T20I between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, although being played at the same venue for the third successive occurrence in this five-match T20I series, kicked off a bit differently, with Zimbabwe winning the toss and opting to field first.
It seemed to be the correct decision for the first half of the Bangladeshi innings, with both the home team’s openers, Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan, departing without capitalizing for 12 off 15 and 21 off 22, respectively. Skipper, Najmul Hossain Shanto, fell for six, getting cleaned up by the Zimbabwean captain, Sikandar Raza. An 87-run stand for the fourth wicket between Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali, resurrected the ship for Bangladesh, as they ended up with 165/5 on the board.
Blessing Muzarabani was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe, conceding only 14 runs in the four overs, taking three vital wickets of Litton, Towhid, and Jaker, with all three of them getting dismissed by getting their furniture disturbed. Raza, although getting the wicket of Shanto, was a tad bit expensive for his liking, going for 38 in his four.
Speaking of the chase, Zimbabwe lost three wickets in the powerplay, their score being 33/3 after six. No. 3,4, and 5 of the Zimbabweans didn’t really have any bearing on the match, with Brian Benett, Craig Ervine, and the skipper himself, managing to muster only 13 runs amongst themselves. Johnathan Campbell was looking good but he too departed for a dangerous 21 (10). With Luke Jongwe departing on the first delivery of the 14th over, the bowling all-rounder Faraz Akram arrived at the crease.
A record ninth-wicket partnership of 54 (30) between Wellington Masakadza and Faraz, with Faraz being the aggressor of the two, brought Zimbabwe dangerously close to staging a colossal comeback from a stage in which they were gone and out, but Mohammad Saifuddin held his nerve in the last over to win it for the home team. Notably a stout and indomitable knock by Faraz went in vain which grabbed attention and superfluous praise from all parts.
Saifuddin and Rishad Hossain, the two-most expensive bowlers for the hosts, going at 10.50 and 12.66, respectively, shared five wickets amongst themselves. Mahmudullah bowled the lone over, giving a unitary run and taking a wicket of the dangerous Marumani as well.
