After the series loss to the West Indies we make four changes to our ODI squad, Taskin Ahmed, Robiul Haque, Ariful Haque and Nazmul Hossain all come in, Nasir Hossain, Abu Jayed, Nazmul Islam and Mashrafe Mortaza all drop out. The squad is therefore as follows:
Mahmudullah, M (c); Ahmed, T; Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk) Das, L (wk); Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Haque, A; Haque, R; Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Iqbal, T; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S
Taskin Ahmed and Ariful Haque gets come in after strong domestic showings, Nazmul Hossain and Robiul Haque come in for similar reasoning plus they’re obvious potential with both under the age of 21. Those dropping out all drop out for poor showings on the international stage apart from Nasir Hossain who has suffered an injury.
- The XI for the first game was: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Ali, Hasan, Ahmed, Hossain, Rahman
Mithun Ali gets a rare chance in the XI, coming in for the injured Nasir Hossain. And Taskin is giving a great chance to impress as he comes straight into the team replacing Abul Hasan.
We lost the toss and are put in to bat. We bat okay with five scores between 34 and 60 as we reach 265-7 in the 50 overs, if one of those five had gone big we would have been on for over the 300 mark and the odds would have been very much in our favour.
The wickets were shared around as we bowled Zimbabwe out for just 185 to gain a commanding win in the first game of the series. Special mention to Taskin Ahmed who was handed the new ball and ripped through the top order to gain 3-44 from his 8 completed overs, the challenger for Ahmed is obviously to produce that level on a regular basis and nail down his spot in the XI.
- After the convincing win in the first game we go with the same XI for the second: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Ali, Hasan, Ahmed, Hossain, Rahman
Again we lose the toss and are made to bat again, and this time we go a bit better than last time as Iqbal’s 110 powers us to 281-8 in the 50 overs.
And we edge home as Zimbabwe come up short as they are bowled out for 271 in 47.2 overs. Rubel Hossain (3-57) and Taskin Ahmed (2-55) are the star men as they are making up for lost time this season after forcing themselves into the XI. That wraps up the series and gives us our first dead rubber of the year in any format.
- And for that dead rubber we opt to make a few changes to give rests and opportunities for those dropping out and those coming in respectively. We line-up as so: Iqbal, Hossain, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Ali (wk), Haque, Hasan, Haque, Ahmed, Hossain
So Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mehedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman drop out and Nazmul Hossain, Ariful Haque (with Mithun Ali taking the gloves), Robiul Haque and Abul Hasan come in. Nazmul Hossain and Robiul Haque are the most interesting of those coming in; Nazmul has impressed in the longer format for us and gets his chance to open, which I think will be his long term position, in the shorter format, and Robiul looks a very impressive young off-spinner, although we have one of those already, and someone I want to give plenty of opportunities over the coming years. Abul has obviously played a fair bit over the season and is a player I like but not one who currently commands a spot in the first choice XI and finally Ariful is a player who at the start of the year I wanted to give game time too in the shorter format but I just haven’t been able to so as of yet, he gets a earned start.
We finally win a toss and put Zimbabwe in. A good bowling performance sees us take 10 wickets for the third time this series as Zimbabwe post 193. Shakib Al Hasan took 4-49 and was ably supported by Robiul Haque on debut (1-29) who put in an incredibly economical 10 overs as the spinners stoo out.
We made it look a bit less comfortable than it appeared for the majority of the chase as we won by 5 wickets. I highlighted the two youngsters on the announcement of the squad and then on selection for this game and they both delivered, after Haque’s great bowling display Nazmul Hossain top scored with a great 89 to see us home.
So after a poor test performance against Zimbabwe, we cruised to a 3-0 win in the shorter stuff. But these series’ were always hopefully just going to be preparation for the New Zealand tour and so they proved as we take maximum points available ahead of the challenging tour ahead.
Mahmudullah, M (c); Ahmed, T; Al Hasan, S; Ali, M (wk) Das, L (wk); Hasan, A; Hasan, M; Haque, A; Haque, R; Hossain, M; Hossain, N; Hossain, R; Iqbal, T; Rahim, M (vc); Sarkar, S
Taskin Ahmed and Ariful Haque gets come in after strong domestic showings, Nazmul Hossain and Robiul Haque come in for similar reasoning plus they’re obvious potential with both under the age of 21. Those dropping out all drop out for poor showings on the international stage apart from Nasir Hossain who has suffered an injury.
- The XI for the first game was: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Ali, Hasan, Ahmed, Hossain, Rahman
Mithun Ali gets a rare chance in the XI, coming in for the injured Nasir Hossain. And Taskin is giving a great chance to impress as he comes straight into the team replacing Abul Hasan.
We lost the toss and are put in to bat. We bat okay with five scores between 34 and 60 as we reach 265-7 in the 50 overs, if one of those five had gone big we would have been on for over the 300 mark and the odds would have been very much in our favour.
The wickets were shared around as we bowled Zimbabwe out for just 185 to gain a commanding win in the first game of the series. Special mention to Taskin Ahmed who was handed the new ball and ripped through the top order to gain 3-44 from his 8 completed overs, the challenger for Ahmed is obviously to produce that level on a regular basis and nail down his spot in the XI.
- After the convincing win in the first game we go with the same XI for the second: Iqbal, Sarkar, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Das (wk), Ali, Hasan, Ahmed, Hossain, Rahman
Again we lose the toss and are made to bat again, and this time we go a bit better than last time as Iqbal’s 110 powers us to 281-8 in the 50 overs.
And we edge home as Zimbabwe come up short as they are bowled out for 271 in 47.2 overs. Rubel Hossain (3-57) and Taskin Ahmed (2-55) are the star men as they are making up for lost time this season after forcing themselves into the XI. That wraps up the series and gives us our first dead rubber of the year in any format.
- And for that dead rubber we opt to make a few changes to give rests and opportunities for those dropping out and those coming in respectively. We line-up as so: Iqbal, Hossain, Mahmudullah (c), Rahim, Al Hasan, Ali (wk), Haque, Hasan, Haque, Ahmed, Hossain
So Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, Mehedi Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman drop out and Nazmul Hossain, Ariful Haque (with Mithun Ali taking the gloves), Robiul Haque and Abul Hasan come in. Nazmul Hossain and Robiul Haque are the most interesting of those coming in; Nazmul has impressed in the longer format for us and gets his chance to open, which I think will be his long term position, in the shorter format, and Robiul looks a very impressive young off-spinner, although we have one of those already, and someone I want to give plenty of opportunities over the coming years. Abul has obviously played a fair bit over the season and is a player I like but not one who currently commands a spot in the first choice XI and finally Ariful is a player who at the start of the year I wanted to give game time too in the shorter format but I just haven’t been able to so as of yet, he gets a earned start.
We finally win a toss and put Zimbabwe in. A good bowling performance sees us take 10 wickets for the third time this series as Zimbabwe post 193. Shakib Al Hasan took 4-49 and was ably supported by Robiul Haque on debut (1-29) who put in an incredibly economical 10 overs as the spinners stoo out.
We made it look a bit less comfortable than it appeared for the majority of the chase as we won by 5 wickets. I highlighted the two youngsters on the announcement of the squad and then on selection for this game and they both delivered, after Haque’s great bowling display Nazmul Hossain top scored with a great 89 to see us home.
So after a poor test performance against Zimbabwe, we cruised to a 3-0 win in the shorter stuff. But these series’ were always hopefully just going to be preparation for the New Zealand tour and so they proved as we take maximum points available ahead of the challenging tour ahead.
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