DHAKA: Opener Tamim Iqbal struck an unbeaten half-century to guide Bangladesh to an eight-wicket win over Zimbabwe in the opening match of the tri-nation One-day International tournament in Dhaka on Monday.

Tamim scored 84 off 93 balls at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium as Bangladesh cruised to 171-2 in just 28.3 overs.

The hosts earlier dispatched Zimbabwe for 170 in 49 overs as left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan claimed 3-43.

Sikandar Raza was the top-scorer for the visitors with 52 as well as taking 2-53.

Bangladesh never looked in trouble, with Shakib striking twice in the first over after skipper Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and opted to bowl.

Mashrafe and Mustafizur Rahman quickly reduced Zimbabwe to 51 for four, before Sikandar provided some brief resistance with his dogged 99-ball innings.

Peter Moor supported the Pakistan-born Sikandar with 33 before Rubel Hossain (2-24) took two wickets off successive balls, fast-tracking Zimbabwe’s collapse and becoming Bangladesh’s fifth bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets.

Mustafizur, who claimed 2-29, produced an off-cutter to uproot Blessing Muzarabani’s off-stump and end Zimbabwe’s innings.

Tamim, who hit eight fours and a six, lost his opening partner Anamul Haque early on for 19 but added 78 with Shakib (37) for the second wicket to set up the innings for Bangladesh.

Shakib — who won the man-of-the-match award — said the win stood the hosts in good stead ahead of their match against Sri Lanka, the other team in the tri-nation series.

“Keeping up momentum is very important. This win should give us some confidence before facing Sri Lanka, who I think will offer us a tough challenge,” he said.

Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer blamed poor batting for their defeat.

“It was not one of those wickets where you could score easily. We had a lot of soft dismissals in our batting line-up,” he said.

Zimbabwe play Sri Lanka in their next match of the tournament at the same ground on Wednesday.

Scoreboard

ZIMBABWE:

H. Masakadza c Mushfiqur b Mashrafe 15 S.F. Mire st Mushfiqur b Shakib 0 C.R. Ervine c Sabbir b Shakib 0 B.R.M. Taylor c Mushfiqur b Mustafizur 24 Sikandar Raza run out 52 M.N. Waller c Sabbir b Sunzamul 13 P.J. Moor b Rubel 33 A. G. Cremer c Rubel b Shakib 12 K.M. Jarvis not out 4 T.L. Chatara b Rubel 0 B. Muzarabani b Mustafizur 1 EXTRAS (LB-5, W-11) 16 TOTAL (all out, 49 overs) 170 FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-2, 3-30, 4-51, 5-81, 6-131, 7-161, 8-167, 9-167. BOWLING: Shakib Al Hasan 10-0-43-3 (3w); Sunzamul Islam 10-0-29-1 (1w); Mashrafe Mortaza 9-0-25-1 (1w); Mustafizur Rahman 10-1-29-2 (1w); Rubel Hossain 5-0-24-2 (1w); Nazir Hossain 5-0-15-0.

BANGLADESH:

Tamim Iqbal not out 84 Anamul Haque c Ervine b Sikandar 19 Shakib Al Hasan lbw b Sikandar 37 Mushfiqur Rahim not out 14 EXTRAS (W12, NB-5) 17 TOTAL (for two wkts, 28.3 overs) 171 FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-108. DID NOT BAT: Mahmudullah, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mashrafe Mortaza, Sunzamul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain. BOWLING: Jarvis 4-0-15-0 (1w); Chatara 3-0-26-0 (1nb); Sikandar Raza 10-1-53-2 (8w); Muzarabani 4-0-31-0 (4nb, 1w); Cremer 7.3-0-46-0 (2w). RESULT: Bangladesh won by eight wickets. UMPIRES: Sharfuddoula Saikat (Bangladesh) and C. Shamshuddin (India). TV UMPIRE: B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia). MATCH REFEREE: D.C. Boon (Australia). MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shakib Al Hasan. NEXT MATCH: Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe, Dhaka, Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2018