Mushfiqur Sees Bangladesh To Victory

Mushfiqur Sees Bangladesh To Victory

Mushfiqur Rahim hit 98 as Bangladesh were triumphant again.

©REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH) Picture Supplied by Action Images

Bangladesh 212-5 (Mushfiqur Rahim 98, Price 2-21) beat
Zimbabwe 209 (Taylor 61, Dolar Mahmud 4-28) by 5 wickets
Scorecard
Fifth One-Day International, Bulawayo

Zimbabwe were going into the fifth and final ODI against Bangladesh looking to keep their series defeat as narrow as possible, however that was not possible as they fell to Bangladesh once again, this time by 5 wickets.

The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first in a match that saw them make three changes bringing in Vusi Sibanda, Alex Cremer and Eddie Rainsford in place of Mark Vermeulen, Stuart Matsikinyeri and Tawanda Mupariwa.

They got off to the worst of starts losing six quick wickets that left them struggling at 69 for six. Dolar Mahmud was the main destroyer as he ripped out four batsmen, including Charles Coventry who followed his record breaking 194 with a duck, to finish with figures of four for 28. This performance was all the more impressive if one thinks that he was only a late inclusion in the squad due to Mashrafe Mortaza missing the series due to a knee injury.

Brendon Taylor and Ray Price were the only two batsmen that could hold their heads high after this innings scoring 61 and 46 respectively and they put on 53 for the eighth wicket, the highest partnership of the innings. Zimabawe were bowled out for just 209 with four overs remaining in the innings.

 In reply Mushfiqur Rahim was promoted up the order to open the innings with Tamim Iqbal. Unfortunately, Iqbal couldn’t repeat the success of his previous innings as he suffered a torturous 23 ball for just four runs before he was put out of his misery by Ray Price. Rahim on the other hand flourished in his role as opener and he played his way to a well played 98, falling to the impressive Price just two short of his century.

Further contributions from the likes of Shakib al Hasan (30) and Raqibul Hasan (24) helped Bangladesh cruise to the win as they knocked off the runs with two overs to spare.

This means that Bangladesh claim their third series victory in a row and will have taken a lot of confidence in doing so.

Peter Exley
© Cricket World 2009

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