DHAKA: Opener Liton Das maintained his superb form as Bangladesh thrashed Zimbabwe by nine wickets in the second Twenty20 International to clinch the two-match series 2-0 in Dhaka on Wednesday.

Liton hit an unbeaten 60 off 45 balls, his second fifty on the trot, which followed two brilliant centuries in the preceding one-day international series, as Bangladesh reached 120-1 in 15.5 overs after restricting Zimbabwe to 119-7.

Chasing a modest target, Liton struck eight fours as he took the excitement out of the game in a 77-run opening stand.

Naim, who replaced the rested Tamim Iqbal, made 33 runs before he became the only batsman to be dismissed in Bangladesh’s innings as Tinashe Kamunhukamwe took the catch off Chris Mpofu at mid-wicket.

Soumya Sarkar remained unbeaten on 20 and finished the game off alongside Liton with a single from Mpofu as Bangla­desh reached their target with 25 balls to spare.

Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad heaped praise on Liton for his consistent performance throughout the series.

“The way we played is pleasing to see. Especially Liton has batted outstandingly well. It shows his maturity and hunger,” he said.

Former skipper Brendan Taylor earlier hit an unbeaten 59 off 48 balls with six fours and a six to give Zimbabwe innings some respectability.

Taylor posted 57 runs with Craig Ervine, who made 29, for the second wicket but the Bangladesh bowlers maintained a tight line to put Zimbabwe under pressure.

Al-Amin Hossain and Mustafizur Rahman claimed 2-22 and 2-25 respectively for Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe captain Sean Williams urged his team-mates “to stay positive.”

“Things happen quickly in T20 cricket. It’s just not happening for us at the moment. [We] need to reflect on ourselves,” Williams said.

Bangladesh also won the preceding One-day International series 3-0 and one-off Test by an innings and 106 runs.

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE:

T. Kamunhukamwe c Mushfiqur b Al-Amin 10

B. Taylor not out 59

C. Ervine c Soumya b Afif 29

S. Williams st Mushfiqur b Mahedi 3

S.Raza c Al-Amin b Saifuddin 12

R. Mutumbami c Soumya b Al-Amin 1

T. Mutombodzi c Naim b Mustafizur 3

W. Madhevere c Naim b Mustafizur 0

C. Mumba not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 20 overs) 119

DID NOT BAT: C. Mpofu, C. Tshuma.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-69, 3-76, 4-96, 5-97, 6-108, 7-113.

BOWLING: Mustafizur 4-0-25-2, Saifuddin 4-0-30-1, Al-Amin 4-0-22-2, Hasan 4-0-25-0, Mahedi 3-0-14-1, Afif 1-0-2-1.

BANGLADESH:

Liton Das not out 60

M. Naim c Kamunhukamwe b Mpofu 33

Soumya Sarkar not out 20

EXTRAS (B-1 LB-2, W-4) 7

TOTAL (for one wkt; 15.5 overs) 120

DID NOT BAT: Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Mahedi Hasan, Afif Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Hasan Mahmud.

FALL OF WKT: 1-77.

BOWLING: Madhevere 3-0-20-0, Mpofu 3.5-0-27-1(1w), Mumba 3-0-26-0, Tshuma 1-0-10-0 (1w), Williams 3-0-16-0(1w), Raza 2-0-18- 0 (1w).

RESULT: Bangladesh win by nine wickets.

SERIES: Bangladesh won 2-0.

UMPIRES: Gazi Sohel and Masudur Rahman (both Bangladesh).

TV UMPIRES: Tanvir Ahmed (Bangladesh).

MATCH REFEREE: Jeff Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2020