DHAKA: All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan made the day his own hitting a ton first and taking four wickets then, propelling Bangladesh to beat Zimbabwe by 87 runs in the first One Day International in Chittagong Friday night.
Arafat Sunny struck last on the visitors. Shakib took four wickets for the fifth times in ODI matches. Mashrafe Mortaza, Arafat Sunny and Mahmudullah took two wickets each.
It has been Shakib's day again. He slammed a century that helped restore a top-order wobble and then help them race away to better-than-par total. He came back with the ball and took four wickets to put himself down as the 12th player, and the first Bangladeshi to hit a century and take four or more wickets in the same match
Tigers’ skippers Mushfiqur Rahim said they were hungry for win and gave credit to Shakib, who become the Man of the Match.
“The boys are really hungry. Credit goes to Shakib. I took my time and Shakib was going from ball one so that helped me. We knew if we got to 250, it was par and our bowlers bowled really well as well. One of us had to have stayed till the end and that was why we have won. We want to win the next match as well, all of us are focussed on that," says Mushfiqur.
Shakib said "Me and Mushy had a very good partnership. I dont know what I have changed in bowling. Have been bowling a lot and I love to contribute but when it is my day I have to make sure it belongs to me. It was a brilliant performance, but still there are areas where we need to improve and hope we do well in the next four games. It's a relief [winning the first ODI in 2014]"
Earlier, visiting captain Elton Chigumbura won the toss and sent Bangladesh to bat first in the day/night match that kicked off at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the port city at 1:30pm.
Bangladesh scored 281 runs for seven wickets in 50 overs.
Ace-all rounder Shakib hit his sixth ODI century, contributing 101 off 99 balls with 10 fours to the scoreboard before caught by Panyangara in Kamungoz’s balls.
Mushfiqur Rahim was playing perfectly the other end of the crease with Shakib. He hit his 17th ODI fifty added 65 runs off 72 balls.
Debutant Sabbir Rahman’s dashing batting added 44 runs off 25 balls not out. Mominul Haque scored 31 runs off 46 balls.
Before returning to pavilion, Tamim Iqbal, Anamul Haque and Mahmudullah contributed 5, 12 and 1 runs to the scoreboard respectively.
Zimbabwe’s T Panyangara took up three wickets while Tendai Chatara took two and J Nyumbu and T Kamungozi one wicket each. Sikandar Raza was the most expensive blower with 9.50 economy rate in just three overs.
Chasing a target of 282 runs to win, Zimbabwe began slightly better. Danger man Hamilton Masakadza began batting with Sikandar Raza on the other end of the crease.
Shakib struck first, became Raza a victim of stamped out by Mushfiqur while Zimbabwe scored 47 runs in 7 overs.
Then the tigers altogether began taking on the visitors. BRM Tayloy hit a fifty scoring 54 runs, Masakadza added 42 runs to the scoreboard.
Tigers also contributed 15 runs to the visitors’ score – the third biggest score in Zimbabwe innings.
Defeated captain says Elton Chigumbura, says "I thought the start we had was excellent but when Shakib and Musfiqur came in, they played really well. Our fielding was off as well, we didn't take our chances. One guy was scoring a hundred, another was hitting a fifty for them and that's where we need to improve. Some of the balls were spinning, but it was a good decision to bowl and it was a chaseable score but we kept losing wickets."
"Obviously, we have four more games and we need to bounce back, especially the next one", he added.
The next ODI will start at 12:30pm on Sunday at the same venue and not 1:30pm like Friday to try and ward off any chances of dew playing to much of a part in the game.
** Ban set 282 target for Zim
** Shakib hits ton, Mushfiq fifty
** Ban 135/4 after 32 ov
** Ban vs Zim 1st ODI 1:30pm
** Tigers facing Zimbabwe bowlers
BDST: 1800 HRS, NOV 21, 2014
