Tigers Eye T20 Series Win to End Tour on a High

Bangla Press Desk: Bangladesh will look to finish the Zimbabwe tour on a high by clinching the T20 International series when they take on the hosts in the third and final match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo on Sunday.

The Towhid Hridoy-led side levelled the three-game series with a 34-run win at the same venue on Friday after losing the opener.

Openers Tanzid Hasan Tamim and Saif Hassan struck twin fifties to lay a solid platform before Yasir Ali and Mohammad Saifuddin added an unbroken 45 runs off just 19 balls to lift the tourists to a competitive 186-5.

Later, spin duo Mahedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain shared seven wickets between them to bundle Zimbabwe out for 152, thus sealing a series levelling victory.

Bangladesh had earlier lost the one-off Test in Harare before suffering a 2-1 defeat in the three-match One Day International series at the same venue.

Now, the visitors have the chance to end the tour with an away series win.

However, they will have to do so without frontline pacers Nahid Rana and Shoriful Islam, both of whom were injured during the tour.

Rana was the latest casualty after walking off with a side strain during the second T20I, having bowled just 2.3 overs for figures of 1-15.

Shoriful returned home after the first T20I following a hamstring injury.

With their pace resources stretched, Bangladesh are expected to field Abdul Gaffar Saqlain alongside Taskin Ahmed and Mohammad Saifuddin to complete the pace attack, with Mahedi and Rishad leading the spin attack.

Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will look to produce a much-improved fielding performance after dropping as many as seven catches in the second T20I.

"We knew that the wicket was going to get better before it started to spin. But to be honest, as a captain, I'm genuinely embarrassed to be here. The way we fielded had a ripple effect into our batting," said Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza after the match.

Bangladesh middle-order batter Yasir, however, shared a different view from the Tigers’ camp.

"It wasn't desperation," he said in a Bangladesh Cricket Board video on Saturday while explaining their comeback in the second T20I.

"The thing was that all of us were trying, from our respective positions, to give our best. The biggest thing was that yesterday we all took the field with the team's bonding spirit in mind—that we would play for Bangladesh and, Inshallah, make the team win. I think that was what most of the boys had in mind: that we would make Bangladesh win," he added.

Yasir also said that Bangladesh would look to carry the same approach into the series decider.

"We had a gym session and a recovery session, which will hopefully motivate us to do even better for tomorrow's match. We will try to approach the game the same way we did in the last match. The approach will always be positive. Of course, we will try to win the series for our country from here," he said. Source: daily sun

BP/TD