Bangladesh suffer first loss in Zimbabwe tour

Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 23 runs in the second T20 match in Harare.

After winning the toss Zimbabwe chose to bat first and scored 166 runs. Shariful Islam took 3 wickets for Bangladesh.

With the win, Zimbabwe restored parity in the second match of the three-match series.

The last match of this series will be played on July 25 at the same venue.

In Friday's match, Zimbabwe batted first after winning the toss and posted 166/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, Bangladesh kept losing the wickets regularly and were bundled out for 143 in 19.5 overs.

The Tigers made two changes to starting XI, choosing Taskin Ahmed and the debutant Shamim Hossain over Liton Das and Mustafizur Rahman.

Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar, who shared Bangladesh's first 100-run stand in the opening partnership in the first match, failed to shine this time.

Both of them were removed by Blessing Muzarabani within 17 runs.

Mahedi Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan managed a good start, scoring 15 and 12 runs but failed to continue. They fell prey to Wellington Masakadza who took three wickets conceding 20 runs in four overs.

Debutant left-hand batsman Shamim Hossain scored 29 runs off 13 balls with three fours and one six.

Afif Hossain, who played more balls than any of his teammates, perished on 24 off 25 balls. Dismissals of Shamim and Afif ended Bangladesh's chance of winning the match.

Along with Masakadza, Luke Jongwe also bagged three wickets for Zimbabwe while Tendai Chatara and Blessing Muzarabani scalped two wickets each.

Earlier, Wessley Madhevere stuck 72 off 57 balls with five fours and three sixes for the hosts. Also, Dion Myers and Ryan Burl scored 26 and 34.

For Bangladesh, Shoriful Islam took three wickets while Mahedi Hasan and Shakib took one wicket each.