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Zimbabwe – 240 and 114 (Brendan Taylor 45*, Sikandar Raza Butt 25; Taijul Islam 8-39)
Bangladesh – 254 and 101 for 7 (Mohammad Mahmudullah 28; Elton Chigumbura 4-21)Zimbabwe lost by 3 wickets.
ZIMBABWE narrowly lost by three wickets on the third afternoon of the first Test against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday.
It was Taijul Islam who produced a man-of-the-match performance, taking eight wickets for 39 – the best bowling figures in Bangladesh history as Zimbabwe was dismissed for just 114 in its second innings.
Resuming the day on five without loss, Zimbabwe were destroyed by Taijul who made use of the uneven bounce and turn of the Mirpur wicket to good effect.
Taijul got into the act as early as the sixth over of the third morning by removing Sibanda for 14, while Shahadat Hossain bowled Hamilton Masakadza to leave Zimbabwe at 24 runs for two wickets.
Sikandar Raza Butt (25) and Regis Chakabva (10) combined and tried to lay the foundation of a healthy second innings lead, but Taijul’s double blow further halted the progress.
Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor did his best to hold the innings together with 45 not out, but could only watch his fellow batsmen’s sensational collapse around him under the sustained pressure from Islam.
Defending 101 runs would have re-written the record books, and Zimbabwe began with the best possible starts taking three wickets with no run scored.
In another captaincy master-stroke subsequent to giving Sikander Raza Butt a bowl in the first innings, Brendan Taylor turned to all-rounder Elton Chigumbura and he did not disappoint.
Chigumbura used the new ball to extract variable bounce on the surface and his 4-21 rattled Bangladesh.
Mahmudullah (28) and Shakib Al Hasan (15) were lucky to share a 46-run partnership after Nyumbu grassed both of them early in their respective innings.
At tea Bangladesh on 62 for four needing another 39 runs for victory, the Zimbabwe bowlers showed a lot of character by nipping three more wickets but Mushfiqur Rahim stood in the way with an unbeaten 23 runs to ensure Bangladesh registered their first win in 14 matches across all formats of cricket.
The two teams now head to Khulna for the second Test match which starts next Monday at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium. – Zimcricket
Online Reporter
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