Taijul Islam’s hat-trick on ODI debut helps Bangladesh complete whitewash

Islam’s 4-11 helped Bangladesh dismiss Zimbabwe for 128 in 30 overs before Bangladesh claimed victory by scoring 130-5 in 24.3 overs, Mahmudullah hitting 51 not out including two consecutive boundaries to secure victory.

“We’re very happy,” said the Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza. “Taijul was brilliant today…”

His Zimbabwe counterpart Elton Chigumbura conceded that his team needs to work on eliminating batting errors.

“We’ve performed in patches and we need to look at that, especially with the World Cup coming up,” he said.

“We need to correct our mistakes… The main thing is the batting and we need to improve quickly.”

Mahmudullah hit 10 boundaries in his 55 balls knock to record his 11th career half century and second in succession for Bangladesh.

Mahmudullah shared a 35-runs partnership with Mushfiqur Rahim (11) for the fifth wicket after Zimbabwe’s pacemen had Bangladesh wobbling at 58-4.

Zimbabwe made the task more difficult for Bangladesh when they removed Rahim at 93-5 before Mahmudullah took control.

Debutant Soumya Sarkar made 20 and Sabbir Rahman was unbeaten on 13.

Zimbabwe fast bowler Tendai Chatara had career best figures of 3-44 while his new ball partner Tinashe Panyangara took 2-49.

For Zimbabwe, Hamilton Masakadza top scored with 52 and Vusi Sibandan hit 37 in an innings dismantled by Islam, his fellow left-arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan (3-30) and leg-spinner Jubair Hossain (2-41).

Islam completed his hat trick in two overs, starting with Tinshae Panyangra (0), who was deceived by the flight of the final delivery of his sixth over.

He claimed John Nyumbu (3) and Tendai Chatara (0) with his next two balls to become the fourth Bangladeshi player to claim a one-day hat trick after left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak and pacemen Shahadat Hossain and Rubel Hossan.

Zimbabwe lost opener Sikandar Raza (9) to Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (1-23) at 16-1 before Masakadza and Sibanda settled the innings with a 79-run stand.

Hossain then claimed Masakadza – who hit five boundaries and three sixes in his 25th half century – as Zimbabwe collapsed, losing nine wickets for 33 runs.