The one off test bewteen Zimbabwe and Bangladesh turned out be a rather interesting one and has exceed expectations by quite a heavy margin.
Bangladesh captain Mominul Haque won the toss and elected to bat first.
Bangladesh’s 1st innings:
Zimbabwe pacers, especially Blessing Muzarabani bowled tight lines which resulted in Bangladesh losing half of their team for paltry 109 runs. What followed was an absolute miracle. A stupendous 95 from wicket-keeper Liton Dad was followed by Mahmudullah’s unbeaten 150 off 278 deliveries. Left-arm pacer Taskin Ahmed also scored a vital 75 as last 5 wickets added 359 runs for the visitors.
Taskin-Muzarabani face-off:
En route to his first ever international fifty, Taskin Ahmed took a special liking to Blessing Muzarabani. He smacked him for a couple of boundaries and even did a little dance after defending a beautiful delivery by Blessing. This pissed him off and he rushed to Taskin. They both were literally “into each other’s face” as Muzarabani’s nose touched Taskin’s helmet grill. Other played had to intervene in order to seperate the hot headed duo. Bangladesh put 468 on the board as Muzarabani took 4 wickets for the hosts.
Blessing Muzarabani’s epic reply:
Zimbabwe fell apart for just 276 in 1st innings. Bangladesh declared their 2nd innings after scoring 284 for the loss of a solitary wicket. Shadman scored 115* and Shanto took the role of the enforcer on his way to his 117 notout off 118 balls.
Zimbabwe’s 2nd innings was also pretty poor as they lost first 6 wickets for just 164. This is when Tiripano and Muzarabani decided to put up a fight.
Muzarabani was expressive in his 30*(51) and even smacked a boundary off Taskin Ahmed. He imitated Taskin’s dance moves with much more swagger. Although Zimbabwe lost by 220 runs, this battle between Taskin and Muzarabani left the fan in splits. It took the internet by storm and added the much needed spice to the match which might have gone under the radar. Taskin Ahmed took 5 wickets across the match and Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani matched him neck-to-neck with his 4 wicket-haul. Phew! Those two surely brought the very best out of each other!