Bangladesh prevail amidst last over drama to clinch T20I series

Last-over drama caps off series

Bangladesh were firmly in control when the final over began: five needed, their top-scorer still at the crease, and six wickets to spare. But a rush of blood took over: Mosaddek Hossain lost his stumps trying to smack a yorker, and Saifuddin followed him next ball by miscuing a needless hoick. Suddenly, it was down to four needed in three. Evans was on a hat-trick.

Moment later, he was dead-certain he had it, when he pinned Mahedi Hasan in front, but the umpire had already begun signalling a dead ball moments before Evans released it. The reason: one of the fielders at the back was moving during delivery, called a "rookie error" by the commentators. An aghast Evans tried to contest it with the umpire, but Bangladesh had made a lucky escape.

Mahedi clanked the next ball - a full-toss - over covers, and roared in celebration, getting into a heated exchange with Evans that brought a sour end to their all-format tour.

The win meant that Bangladesh, after losing the Test and ODI legs, managed to clinch the T20Is, their second straight bilaterial series win over Zimbabwe.

Raza: Fielding was our Achilles Heel

Having dropped a whopping seven catches in the last game, Zimbabwe continued to be sloppy with their ground fielding, which Sikandar Raza dubbed their Achilles Heel after the match. A couple of sharp catches by Brad Evans and Raza were the only consolation.

Barring the final-over drama, the chase wasn't really threatening for Bangladesh, headlined by Tanzid Hasan Tamim's 66*, finishing top of the run-charts in both the ODIs and T20Is.

Zimbabwe's only chance of making a game of it was by clamping them down in the Powerplay, which they did to a large extent, conceding just 30 runs. The short ball was used as a form of attack, which gave them Saif Hassan's wicket five balls into the chase. The left-handed pair of Parvez Emon and Tanzid continued to face more of those as they made their way past the field restrictions.

The momentum shifted when Emon launched Sikandar Raza over his head for a six to end the seventh over, and Tamim followed it by greeting Tinotenda Maposa, brought in for this game, with a six to start his spell. Raza managed to get Emon next over, having already conceded five wides earlier in the game. It typified Zimbabwe's effort: one step forward, two steps back.

From that point onwards, Tamim dug in, taking them through with his 13th T20I fifty, drawing level with Shakib Al Hasan. Only Litton Das (16) has more for Bangladesh.

Earlier, Zimbabwe ambled to 143/7 in the first innings, given the early push by Brian Bennett, with Dion Myers taking over with a steady 53-ball 73. The rest of the lineup was as good as absent, with none of the other batters going into double-digits. Bangladesh, without their pace ace Nahid Rana, did not feel the pinch as much. Taskin Ahmed put on the screws with a tight spell of 0-16 in four. By the 16th over mark, Zimbabwe reached a steady 118/3, but couldn't get their act right towards the end.

They lost three wickets across six deliveries, trying to get a late push but only losing their way. In the end, a total of 143 just wasn't enough, and the misfields made it worse.

"Had we fielded a bit better, Brad wouldn't be defending five. He might have been defending 15 to 18," Raza later rued.

Reeling from the loss, Zimbabwe will have little time to ruminate, with the T20I series against India starting in four days' time.

Brief scores: Zimbabwe 143/7 in 20 overs (Dion Myers 73, Brian Bennett 47; Mohammad Saifuddin 2-35, Rishad Hossain 1-28) lost to Bangladesh 144/6 in 19.4 overs (Tanzid Hasan Tamim 66*, Towrid Hridoy 24; Richard Ngarava 2-20, Brad Evans 2-26) by four wickets.