short, and he looks to swing this away, and holes out to short fine leg. That's that! Length ball, and the swing across the line is always a difficult one to put away on a pitch like this, and he perishes with a gigantic top edge. That's 700 wickets in all formats of the game for Mashrafe, and Mohammad Isam reminds me that he becomes just the fifth bowler to take 100 ODI wickets as captain. The others are Wasim Akram (158), Shaun Pollock (134), Imran Khan (131) and Jason Holder (101).
Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe, 1st ODI at Sylhet, ZIM in BDESH, Mar 01 2020 - Ball by Ball Commentary
8.30pm That's that for this Sunday then. Catch you all on Tuesday for the second ODI, where Zimbabwe will look to keep the series alive with their first win after 17 successive losses in this format away to Bangladesh! Follow the game (both this one, and others happening around the globe these days) with ESPNcricinfo...for the moment, this is Debayan Sen saying goodbye on behalf of Ranjith P and Liam Brickhill.
It's Liton Das who wins the Player of the Match. Speaks to the broadcasters: "Feeling better now. It was a good batting track, and I enjoyed my batting. Shanto, Mushybhai and Tamimbhai all batted well to give partnership at the top of the order. We have some wicketkeeper batsmen in our team, so I can focus on my fielding and batting alone."
Mainul Pavel: "Liton das played a good innings today but my MOM is Saifuddin."
Mashrafe Mortaza: "Personally, it's been not going well last 3-4 matches for us in this format. We hadn't been up to the mark in those games, but today we were up for it. Liton batted so well, and it mattered that others batted around him. Mahmudullah batted well, and Mithun also, not easy to bat at 6 for him. If you look at our side, Saifuddin has just come back from injuries, and I last played an ODI eight months back. Doesn't matter if you post a target of 322, you have to put the ball in the right places, and that's something we did. We were good in all three departments. You can control your fielding, and this is something that we are working hard on in practice."
8.23pmTime for the presentation. Chamu Chibhabha: "I thought the Bangladeshis batted really well. They had a guy bat through for them, and they had partnerships through the game. That was the key for them. It was good to watch him (Madhevere) play positively. This is a nice venue for us, the last time we played we won a Test. Hopefully we can turn things around and win the next game. I am sure Sean Williams will play the next game, but we don't know yet about Craig Ervine. Hopefully, he will be fit."
8.20pm Sean Williams pops up on the broadcast, talks about the excitement of becoming a father, and praises Madhevere for the tidy cricket he has played today.
8.13pm This is also the record win for Bangladesh in ODIs, with the 169 run margin going past 163 that they managed against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Dhaka in January 2018. Zimbabwe just didn't turn up today, I am afraid. That takes nothing away from the professionalism shown by Bangladesh. They came in as favourites into this game, and have performed exactly that way.
They did the first thing right by winning the toss and batting. Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das gave them momentum early in the innings, and Das went on to anchor the innings, with all top 7 players in the Bangladesh order making 19 or more. There was a half-century from Mohammad Mithun too, but the real momentum came from Mohammad Saifuddin, who helped take 22 off the final over in the Bangladesh innings. Saif also helped get the Zimbabwe chase off track with a precise new ball spell, one where he bowled Kahmunhukamwe and then trapped Chakabva in front of the stumps. It was all downhill from there for the visitors, for whom the only bright spark today I suppose would be debutant Wesley Madhevere, who picked up a wicket and also scored a smart 35.
Mashrafe Mortaza comes back on himself
full ball, driven to long-off
Rahim tells Taijul there's no merit in looking to 'buy' a wicket here
tossed up, and he plays a gorgeous inside out drive through cover
shuffles across and flicks a length ball from around off towards deep square leg
looks to swat another ball around leg stump towards mid-wicket, but misses. Very close to the leg stump
full, and he looks to lap sweep this. First slip goes along to leg slip to cut this off, but he misses. Called a wide, the margin of error down the leg side being negligible
length, straightens from around leg, and he drives this past the bowler
length, slaps this one away towards deep square leg
Taijul replaces Mehidy
Musavvir: "@Samba: I guess, BD fans are not complaining about playing against Zim. What people are complaining about is getting super satisfaction of winning and thinking themselves invincible. That's the problem with playing against Zim."
length, around off, and he looks to defend this. Beaten outside off yet again
length, straighter around off, and he defends with a solid dead bat
Pias: "We talk about MASH but how long is Mpofu been around? Bowled well today" --- Yes, but as a senior bowler, am sure they will look for more penetration from him in the next few games
length, around off, and he looks to drive this towards point. Beaten!
yorker, but he chips down the wicket and takes it on the full. Flicks this away confidently, and through to the deep backward square leg fence
length, nips away after pitching outside off, and beats the bat. We know Saif has the ability to generate reverse swing, but it apppears to be more of seam movement at the moment
Simba: "Bangledeshi supporters who are complaining about playing Zimbabwe because Zimbabwe is currently weak should not forget that the strong Zimbabwe squads of Andy Flower, Heath Streak used to play Bangladesh when no one else wanted to play Bangladesh. This was when Bangladesh was also weak back then. So if there is a gap in the Bangladeshi calendar its good to help Zimbabwe with some experience matches. I do believe Zimbabwe should do better to be more competitive though.They can do better than this"
length, around off, and he taps it to point and sets off. The non-striker would have been run out with a direct hit, but instead they get four overthrows as the throw misses!
Masum: "Mossadek is better option than Miraz in ODI and Naeem is better than Miraz in Test. So Miraz need to improve a lot "
fuller, and he slogs this away towards deep mid-wicket. Short of the man there, but yet again, some good turn to force him to skew this shot
flatter, faster, and he defends towards short mid-wicket
Rahim exhorts Mehidy to draw his length back, because the batsmen will go for the big hit off all the balls here
length, punched down towards long-on
Tanvir Rivnat: "What's the biggest win for Bangladesh anyway? " --- 163 runs against Sri Lanka
fuller, and he slogs this away towards deep mid-wicket. The incoming turn takes it towards the fielder
length, around off, and he presses forward to defend
length, down the pads, and he whips this away towards deep square leg
Moloy : "Mehedi hasan miraj hasn't improved a bit since his u-19 days.I mean you cant survive at the top level with gentle off spin and ordinary batting.He becomes like a bowling machine on flat pitches with no variations in his bowling.Need to improve drastically or else I dont see him keeping his place in any format for Bangladesh.Maybe Saifuddin can show him how to upgrade from u-19 to senior team." --- For the moment, he's continuing with the ball
Mpofu is in next, but he will start at the non-striker's end