Bangladesh gave Mushfiqur Rahim the perfect captaincy farewell by bouncing back from yesterday's defeat to earn a share of the spoils in the Twenty20 series against Zimbabwe. They posted an identical total - 168 - to that of Zimbabwe on Saturday and, like then, it proved to be enough. Shakib Al Hasan continued the similarities from game one by again starring with both bat and ball to make himself a shoo-in for the man of the series award.
Zimbabwe stretched their winning streak against Bangladesh to three matches by prevailing in a tense opening T20 International in Bulawayo. Their impressive total of 168 for five was built on the back of a fine second-wicket stand of 74 between Brendan Taylor and Hamilton Maskadza, while their bowlers kept plugging away despite the Bangladeshi pair of Shakib Al Hasan and Shamsur Rahman putting on a substantial second-wicket stand of their own.
Mushfiqur Rahim has announced he will stand down as Bangladesh captain, just hours after his side lost their One-Day International series in Zimbabwe by two games to one. Rahim, 24, took over the captaincy in September 2011, replacing Shakib Al Hasan, subsequently leading the team to a first ever Test draw against Sri Lanka and an ODI series win against the West Indies.
The deadlock between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh was finally broken in the third One-Day International in Bulawayo. After the Test series had been tied, and with the ODI series locked at one-all, Vusi Sibanda followed up a disciplined bowling effort from the home side with his second century to give them a rare series victory.
Vusi Sibanda and Sean Williams led Zimbabwe to a series-levelling victory in the second ODI against Bangladesh at Queen's Sports Club. Sibanda got Zimbabwe's pursuit of Bangladesh's 252 for nine off to a brisk start with 49 off 51 balls, while Sean Williams ensured there would be no late wobbles, ending on 78 off 75 balls, and adding an unbroken 86 with Malcolm Waller for the fifth-wicket.
Nasir Hossain scored a half-century and Ziaur Rahman took a five-wicket haul as Bangladesh thrashed Zimbabwe by 121 runs in the opening One-Day International in Bulawayo. Hossain's 68 underpinned Bangladesh's score of 269 for eight and as Rahman returned figures of five for 30 in nine overs, Zimbabwe folded to be all out for just 148 in reply.
A spirited century from Hamilton Masakadza wasn't able to prevent Bangladesh from squaring the Test series against Zimbabwe on the final day in Harare. Ziaur Rahman took two of the wickets to fall during the day, with Shakib Al Hasan, Mohammad Ashraful, Sohag Gazi and Robiul Islam taking one each.
There can be only one winner of this week's Cricket World Player of the Week award. Zimbabwe's captain Brendan Taylor almost single-handedly led his side's batting in the Test win over Bangladesh in Harare, becoming the first Zimbabwe captain to score a century in each innings of a Test match.
View all articles in Zimbabwe.
