Saqlain Sajib pulled a rabbit out of the hat as he bagged his career best nine wickets in an innings to foil the visiting Zimbabwe A side for just over 200 runs on the first day of the four-day match at Cox’s Bazar yesterday. The Bangladesh A side are in complete control of the encounter after they ended the day by scoring 30 without any loss of wickets.
Opting to bat, visiting captain Vusi Sibanda put on 43 for the first wicket with Tino Mawoyo (12) before the latter was removed by left-arm spinner Saqlain. Sibanda added a further 61 runs for the second wicket with Brian Chari (30) as the visitors were cruising along pretty well.
However, Saqlain struck once again to break the partnership and in the space of few overs Zimbabwe were reeling at 122 for seven with Saqlain dismissing six of them.
Sibanda, who made 62, accounted rash strokeplay and that the wicket not behaving up to the standard as the main reason behind their poor show. Sibanda said the wicket was “not up to standard as it already started to break on the first day.”
“It (wicket) was slow from the very beginning while the ball also kept low apart from the turns the wicket provided. We tried to play too many strokes and ended up gifting our wickets,” Sibanda told Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
Coming in at No. 5, Regis Chakabva scored a valiant 64 to help Zimbabwe reach 206 before they were bowled out in the last session of the day.
Bangladesh A skipper Naeem Islam must be a very happy captain after day one as his spinning duo Saqlain, 9 for 82, and Forhad Hossain, 1 for 26, did a smooth job before the young home side openers, Liton Kumar (23) and Sadman Islam (4), ensured no casualties.
