Nyamhuri and Ngarava stun Bangladesh by defending 141
Nahid Rana's 6 for 21, the best figures by a Bangladeshi in ODIs, went in vain
Nahid Rana's 6 for 21, the best figures by a Bangladeshi in ODIs, went in vain
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar
4:22pm That will be all from us. A classic low-scoring thriller, and if the remaining games are going to be like this, we cannot wait for them to rattle in. It was a pleasure having your company, and thanks for all the comments. We will be back with more from this tour in a couple of days. Until then, from Harshith, Himanshu, Ranjith and myself (Shashwat), it is goodbye!
Newman Nyamhuri, Player of the Match: (On how he is feeling) Quite happy - did the job for my team. We are telling each other we had to fight and put everything in the field. He was telling me to focus ball by ball and to stay (in the moment). The pitch was favouring bowlers - it was doing a lot, that's it.
Richard Ngarava, Zimbabwe captain: (Discussion at the break) Discussion was, as Zimbabweans, we can go through any situation and come out of it. I had belief - we know what we are. We fight till the end and we do it as a pack. (On the batting) We just want to keep it simple, watch the ball and play accordingly. (Feeling in the change room) Quite nice, it is exciting. Hopefully it continues. I am quite happy I have been able to put a smile on their (fans) faces. Nice to see someone painted (with my number in the stands). They are our twelfth man and good to have them.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Bangladesh captain: We bowled really well, especially Nahid - he took six wickets and it was exceptional. They got a partnership (between Ngarava and Nyamhuri) and those were crucial runs. Little disappointed in our batting unit. (On Rana) That was great. The last few series, the way he has been bowling, it has been excellent. We can do better but we have to bowl right areas. Both batters played really well (during that partnership). If you get partnership in the first 10 overs, it would have been better but we did not get it.
Dr Brix: "From the dusty bowls of Chingele to every corner of Zimbabwe, the celebrations have begun! What a victory! We believed, we held our breath, and the boys delivered. Today, the whole nation stands proud. Well played, Zimbabwe!"
4:05pm Phew. What a game. At the half-way stage, it felt this would be a routine run-chase. It was anything but. Bangladesh lost three wickets early in the piece. They then established a footing through Nurul and Hridoy but once they were dislodged, their chase descended into freefall. Lots of questionable shot-selection along the way and Bangladesh will be very disappointed with how things panned out.
Zimbabwe will be on the opposite end of that emotional spectrum. They had no business winning this game. They had no business even competing, given how many they had on the board. But they stll made it happen. They fought. And they fought. And they fought until Bangladesh ran out of steam. Ngarava was superb - with the ball and with his decision-making. Evans was brilliant too, as were Muzarabani and Nyamhuri, and they have combined for a famous win, and a win that the fans at the ground are already celebrating quite audibly.
Evans: Bowling at a total like that is simple - you have nothing to lose. We have shown we are a team of fighters and we fight for every ball. When it comes out like that, it is fun (to play) and watch. We had a great start and then collapsed. And that partnership (between Ngarava and Nyamhuri) then got us to a total - we had something to bowl at. We kept it simple and it worked. Just about persisting and trusting that a collapse is around the corner. In a low-scoring game, you always put two wickets on the score to see where it is at.
Mustafizur Rahman c Muzarabani b Ngarava 5 (30m 14b 1x4 0x6) SR: 35.71
Seamer will travel to Birmingham for rehabilitation after being ruled out of Zimbabwe tour
Nahid Rana's 6 for 21, the best figures by a Bangladeshi in ODIs, went in vain
Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana were back in Bangladesh's side while Raza returned to XI for Zimbabwe
Both teams will want to gain knowledge about their personnel in conditions where the 2027 World Cup will be played
This will be Ngarava's first ODI series as captain, having recently led them to the one-off Test win against Bangladesh