Bangladesh levels the three-match series against Zimbabwe, courtesy to Hossain’s five-fer

The Bangladesh bowling Coach Allan Donald said the bowlers need to be street smart to do well in the T20I format, calling it a 24-ball puzzle for the bowlers while Bangladesh sealed the game by seven wickets against Zimbabwe.

The Bangladesh pace bowling unit was condemned for spilling runs in the first game as the quick bowling triplet of Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam and Taskin Ahmed yielded 137 runs in their joined 12 overs, winding up with an aggregate economy of 11.41. 

Zimbabwe ended up posting a record total of 205 and attracted first blood in the series by dominating the match by 17 runs. Taskin didn’t play the second T20I while Bangladesh sealed the game by seven wickets to level the series.

The Bangladesh bowling Coach Allan Donald said the bowlers need to be street smart to do well in the T20I format, calling it a 24-ball puzzle for the bowlers. 

Mosaddek Hossain’s stunning spell in the second T20I proved crucial in Bangladesh’s victory at Harare. He is the only bowler to do so after Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan.

From Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza scored a fighting half-century but a total of 135 proved insufficient. The opener Liton Das chased down the target with his half-century and the task was done with seven wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare.

However, Allan Donald, the Bangladesh bowling coach says that the bowlers need to be straight smart in order to do well in the T20Is, and calls it a 24-ball puzzle for the bowlers.

“South Africa were all out for only 90 runs against England the other day. So, T20 is such a game that teaches you harsh lessons. And in this game, I see a 24-ball puzzle that you need to solve and that’s being street smart,”

“That is something we are teaching and giving a lot of emphasis on. I think it’s the small steps that matter as I don’t care what type of team you are on. Yesterday, we had a good start. We have got to do that tomorrow [Tuesday] as well as we showed how smart we can be and we are expecting to bounce back as we did in the last game on Sunday. Look, it’s the final tomorrow and it will be played on the pitch of the first game and it should be a cracker of a game and I’m looking forward to it,”

he said.

Bangladesh 136 for 3 (Litton 56, Afif 30*) beat Zimbabwe 135 for 8 (Raza 62, Mosaddek 5-20) by seven wickets.