Bangladesh-Zimbabwe Series

Zimbabwe’s Kaia-Raza outplay Bangladesh in ODI opener

Online Desk

Online Desk
প্রকাশের তারিখ: 12:47 শুক্রবার, 05 আগস্ট, 2022

|| CF DESK ||

Sikandar Raza and Innocent Kaia struck centuries as Zimbabwe recovered from a disastrous start to stun Bangladesh by five wickets on Friday in the first match of a three one-day internationals series.

The home team lost openers Regis Chakabva and Tarisai Musakanda with just six runs on the scoreboard as they chased a formidable Bangladesh total of 303-2 that included four half centuries.  

A third Zimbabwe wicket fell after they lifted the score to 62 and then Raza and Kaia came together to put on 192 runs for the fourth wicket and set up a brilliant victory as Zimbabwe reached 307-5 with 10 balls to spare.

Raza was unbeaten on 135, including six sixes and eight fours, while Kaia struck two sixes and 11 fours in his 110 before being caught by Shoriful Islam at short fine leg. 

The pair reached centuries within two balls of each other during the 39th over with Kaia scoring his maiden ton through a single while two runs from Raza gave him his fourth 100 in the 50-over format.

Earlier, Four half-centuries from batters powered Bangladesh to set a mammoth target of 304 runs for Zimbabwe.

Anamul Haque Bijoy, who returned to the ODI fold after three years played a scintillating innings as he scored 73 off 62 balls hitting six boundaries and three sixes.

Following his wicket, Mushfiqur Rahim took the charge and scored his 42nd ODI fifty with Mahmdullah Riyad. Mushfiq and Riyad were unbeaten on 52 and 20 runs as the Tigers posted 303-2 after 50 overs.

Bangladesh wicket-keeper batter Litton Das was retired-hurt after he had pulled a muscle while taking a single during 33.1 overs of the ongoing first ODI.

Litton was taken out of the ground on a stretcher by the medical team, he scored 81 runs in 89 deliveries which included nine fours and a six.

After being invited to bat first Bangladesh made a strong start with the openers Tamim Iqbal and Liton adding 119 runs for the partnership.  

Tamim departed on 62 off 88 balls, the veteran became the first Bangladeshi cricketer to score 8000 runs in the ODI format.

Victory continued a remarkable transformation of Zimbabwe since former batting star Dave Houghton began a second stint as coach after 3-0 ODI and Twenty20 whitewashes by Afghanistan in June.

They hosted a T20 World Cup qualifying tournament last month and won all five matches to clinch a place at the main event in Australia from October.

Then, earlier this week, they edged Bangladesh by 10 runs in a thriller to snatch a 2-1 victory in a T20 series.