Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 17 runs in 1st T20I

Zimbabwe beat Bangladesh by 17 runs in the first T20I of the three-match series at Harare Sports Club on Saturday.

After winning the toss Zimbabwe chose to bat first and post a huge total of 205/3. In reply, Bangladesh finished scoring 188/6. Captain Sohan's 42 off 26 was the top score for Bangladesh. Najmul Hossain Shanto 37 off 25, Litton Das 32 off 19, and Anamul 26 off 27 were the other notable scorers for Bangladesh.

For Zimbabwe, Luke Jongwe took two wickets. His best over was the 19th over when he conceded only four runs. Bangladesh needed 32 in the last two overs.

Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to bat first. Zimbabwe lost their first wicket in just 15 runs on the board and another wicket when they were batting at 43 runs.

In the third wicket stand, Madhevere and Sean Williams added 56 runs off just 37 balls. After Williams fell for 33 off 19 balls, Raza joined Madhevere and added 91 runs in 43 balls. Bangladeshi bowlers failed to contain the runs against the host batters.

Mustafizur Rahman, the left-arm seamer, bagged two wickets but conceded 50 runs while Taskin Ahmed failed to grab any wickets but conceded 42 runs. The other pacer, Shoriful Islam, conceded 45 runs but couldn't get any wicket.

Sohan, the wicketkeeper-batter, was leading Bangladesh for the first time in this match. He replaced Mahmudullah Riyad after Bangladesh’s defeat to the West Indies in a recent T20I series.

The second and third matches of the T20I series will take place on July 31 and August 2. All the matches will be played at the same venue— the Harare Sports Club.