When a team steps into the field with four debutants, no specialist spinners and just a handful of experienced campaigners, it is clear that the upcoming match is going to be disappointing. It is one thing to experiment with new team combinations and another thing entirely to take an opponent lightly.
The Tigers’ first loss of the year seemed to be on the cards since Zimbabwe posted their third highest T20I total of 187/6. Other than newcomer Mosaddek Hossain, who bowled two overs giving away 10 runs, the bowlers were all painfully expensive.
To make matters worse, Bangladesh’s fielding was far from satisfactory, with plenty of misfields, dropped catches and missed run-out chances for the visitors to capitalise on. Zimbabwe cruised through the innings with their run-rate hovering around 10 runs per over throughout. Other than Shakib al Hasan’s 400th international wicket and BPL star Abu Haider Rony’s first, there were very few moments worth celebrating for Bangladesh. Mohammad Shahid also earned himself his first T20I wicket.
The chase started with Imrul Kayes being cleaned up by Tendai Chisoro, leaving Bangladesh at 2-1. While Soumya Sarkar and Sabbir Rahman’s half-century stand raised brief hopes, it was not enough as the former’s dismissal in the eighth over initiated the much-dreaded collapse. Although expectations were pegged on senior players like Shakib and Mahmudullah, neither impressed, managing only single-digit scores each. This left debutant Muktar Ali and inexperienced Nurul Hasan to try in vain to clean up the mess.
Ultimately, the Tigers succumbed to a 31-run defeat due to easily avoidable reasons. With Mushfiqur Rahim ruled out by a right hamstring injury and Tamim Iqbal and Mustafizur Rahman rested, the team was already lacking reliable, experienced players to begin with.
Whether it was because this match was not taken as seriously as the first two or because of sheer complacency, the Tigers had a lot of chinks in their armour. For a team like Bangladesh which thrives on momentum, every match counts. Here’s hoping for another series win in tomorrow’s final match to start off 2016!
