Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by 101 runs in their last qualifying match of the Champions Trophy at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium on Friday.
JAIPUR: Bangladesh against Zimbabwe — probably the only match in the tournament in which no one was interested in. Nothing much was expected from this match anyways. And all credit to the two teams involved, they at least were able to fulfill this particular expectation by playing out an ordinary match that had little or no excitement to offer.
For the record, Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 101 runs. Chasing a modest target of 231, Zimbabwe failed to make a match of it and folded up for 130. Brendan Taylor was the only Zimbabwe batsman to offer any resistance with a well-made 52. Saqibul Hasan was the best Bangladesh bowler, capturing three wickets to go along with his 37 with the bat.
The Bangladesh innings revolved around Shahriar Nafees, who played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection. The 20-year-old’s second one-day century, a well-made 123 not out, was patience personified.
The promising young player batted from beginning to end and faced 161 balls in his workmanlike innings. It was also the highest individual score by a Bangladesh batsman in a one-day international — Nafees himself held the earlier record of 118 scored against the same opponents at the Harare Sports Club a couple of months back.
Nafees was involved in two solid partnerships — 84 runs for the third wicket with Saqibul and 80 for the fourth with captain Habibul Bashar, who made 30 — that laid the foundation for a Bangladesh total that in the end proved decent enough.
Bangladesh still have a poor record against their opponents for the day — having won just seven of their 24 matches so far — but going by the way Zimbabwean cricket is declining it won’t take long for Bangladesh to set that record straight and get the upper hand over at least one team.
Both teams are out of reckoning for a slot in the main round after defeats to holders West Indies and Sri Lanka.
Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore put the result in perspective after struggling against major opponents. “We are playing competitive cricket,” he said. “But we require consistent performances from all players, rather than having a good invidual performance.”
The 20-year old Nafees, who hit the headlines earlier this year for his maiden Test century against Australia, said: “I like to play strokes and the wicket was conducive for that. So I consumed more deliveries today. My main aim was to stay at the wicket as long as possible.”
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