Sarkar fires BDto thumping win against Zimbabwe

DHAKA: Bangladesh extended their dominance over Zimbabwe with a 48-run win in the first of two T20 internationals at the Shere Bangla Stadium on Monday.

The match followed a similar script to that set down in the ODIs: Bangladesh scored heavily at the top, bruised Zimbabwe further at the death, and then shut the match down with the ball as the visitors' top order collapsed in a heap.

Bangladesh jumped at the chance to bat Zimbabwe out of the game with another imposing total. Mustafizur Rahman then led the way with the ball, striking in every spell, while Aminul Islam was also gifted three easy wickets even as he repeatedly missed his lengths in the middle overs. Bangladesh never lost control of the game, and the result was settled long before Carl Mumba's tail-end swiping was brought to an end with an over unused.

Fresh from their record-breaking effort in Sylhet, where they batted Zimbabwe out of the match with a stand of 292 - Bangladesh's highest for any wicket in ODIs - Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal were at it again in Dhaka. In fact, so quickly were they into their groove it was almost as if their partnership on Friday night had never ended and they progressed in a fashion that must now seem all too familiar to Zimbabwe's beleaguered bowling attack.

A fierce pick-up over deep square leg in Chris Mpofu's first over brought a second six for Das, and Bangladesh cruised through the powerplay at close to 10 an over. Together the pair ticked smoothly past yet another record, this time for Bangladesh's opening partnership in T20Is, and a century stand was within their grasp when Zimbabwe finally got some relief.

Wesley Madhevere's first ball was spanked back over his head for six by Iqbal, but he bit back in his next over to have the opener caught in the covers off a sliced drive. With Sean Williams also weathering Bangladesh's batting assault competently, the nine overs that Zimbabwe's spinners bowled after the powerplay leaked just 66 runs and brought two wickets.

Sarkar entered the fray with Zimbabwe's spinners in the midst of a controlled spell, two wickets having fallen in the space of three overs for only 15 runs. His counterattack was swift. Williams was biffed over wide long on and Raza paddled very fine to put a dent in their figures, but it was the return of Zimbabwe's seamers that really spurred Sarkar on.

His second T20I fifty in the process, coming just over two years since his first, and A brittle top order has hobbled Zimbabwe during the limited-overs leg of this tour, and once again their chase was as good as scuppered as they wilted inside the powerplay. Brendan Taylor has endured his worst-ever trip to Bangladesh with a high score of 17 across six innings in three different formats. He was out for just 1 tonight, tamely flapping a length ball to midwicket in an almost exact repeat of his dismissal on Friday.

Scores in brief: Bangladesh 200 for 2 (Sarkar 62*, Das 59, Madhevere 1-15) beat Zimbabwe 152 all out (Kamunhukamwe 28, Rahman 3-32, Islam 3-34) by 48 runs.