Bangladesh had to suffer a major setback at the hands of host Zimbabwe who defeated them by a margin of 5 wickets in the 1st ODI that was being played. While chasing a massive total of 303 runs, Bangladesh was always the hot favorite and was expected to outplay Zimbabwe, but the hosts had some other ideas in mind. In one of the greatest tales of comebacks so far, Zimbabwe defeated Bangladesh for the first time since 2013.
Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to field first. The Bangladesh batsmen grabbed the opportunity with both hands and amassed a total of 303 which looked like an impossible target for Zimbabwe to chase down. Litton Das top-scored for Bangladesh with 81 off 89 deliveries which he scored at a strike rate of 91. Keeping up with Litton's exploits, Tamim scored a swashbuckling 62 off 88 deliveries which was later followed by Anamul Haque's 73 and Mushfiqur Rahim's 52. With 5 half centuries in the top order, Bangladesh breached the 300 landmarks and looked pretty set to win the game by a big margin.
Keeping up with their reputation, Zimbabwe lost both its openers in the first two overs and was reeling on 62/3, but a partnership between Innocent Kaia and Sikandar Raza, which included centuries by both batsmen enabled their team to win the first of three ODIs. Bangladesh looked pretty mediocre with the ball in their hands and even after losing 19 straight ODIs to Bangladesh, victory was no surprise for the home side. Sikandar Raza scored 135 runs off 109 deliveries with 8 fours and 6 sixes to his name and was adjudged the man of the match.
Kaia was dropped on 68 and 74 by the Bangladesh fielder and he made them pay with his hundred off 115 balls. Raza who scored his fourth hundred from 81 balls struck the third fastest for Zimbabwe.
"Innocent was brilliant out there. At one point I thought we were slightly behind the game, so all I was trying to focus on is to back him and tell him that if we stay here we win this game together, to try and calm him down and try and encourage him to play good cricketing shots", said Raza.
Raza finished off the match by pulling a Mosaddek delivery for six-over midwicket. The second OFI will now be played on Sunday and Zimbabwe will look to continue its dominant run and win the series.
(Inputs from PTI)
