Muzarabani, Ngarava powers Zimbabwe to take early series lead in T20I

Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava, Zimbabwe's leading pace duo, both scored four wickets to help the hosts defeat Bangladesh by 32 runs in the first Twenty20 International in Bulawayo. Bangladesh, already under pressure after losing the one-off Test and the ODI series, gave up an early lead in the T20I portion of the tour after putting on another poor performance. With the openers each scoring a boundary off Sikandar Raza in the first over, Bangladesh got off to a good start in their chase of 171 runs. However, Saif Hassan was successful in pulling the keeper with a tickle thanks to Ngarava's introduction. Bangladesh were in trouble from the start thanks to another short ball from Zimbabwe's ODI and Test captain three balls later. Bangladesh fell to 43/3 in the Powerplay after Muzarabani struck in the following over, inflicting even more damage. To prevent further deterioration and establish an important stand, Yasir Ali and Towhid Hridoy batted competently. But before they could even entertain hopes of aiding Bangladesh to get back on track in the run chase, the partnership was broken as Hridoy found the fielder in the deep. A needless run out then reduced Bangladesh to 78/5 but Yasir refused to throw in the towel just yet. Before reaching his half-century, he continued to play extravagant strokes and hit his third six of the innings. At 113/5 after 15 overs, Bangladesh remained in contention and required an additional 58 runs from the final five overs. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, were always just one wicket away from the tail. That wicket arrived in the 17th over of the chase when Muzarabani returned for his final spell to break the half-century stand. That opened the floodgates again as Ngarava bagged the key wicket of Yasir in the very next over and followed it up with the dismissal of Mohammad Saifuddin to end Bangladesh's hopes. After adding the final two wickets to his tally in the penultimate over, Muzarabani ended with fantastic figures of 4-1-17-4, putting the visitors out of their misery. Zimbabwe broke the 170-run mark earlier in the day with significant contributions from multiple batters. Zimbabwe, who were asked to bat first, got off to a roaring start when Brian Bennett smashed the first ball of the game for a boundary and then pulled the scoop three balls later to stun Bangladesh and Taskin Ahmed. Bennett, who had scored few runs in the ODIs, batted intently, hitting a four and a six off consecutive deliveries in the next over as well. Tadiwanashe Marumani then showed off his skills by hitting back-to-back sixes off Mahedi Hasan. In just 2.2 overs, Zimbabwe had raced to 34/0 to put Bangladesh on the backfoot. The visitors recovered though after the initial onslaught as Marumani's dismissal put the brakes on the scoring rate. Zimbabwe had to come back after Nahid Rana dismissed the well-set Bennett at the halftime break in order to end the game on a high note. But Bangladesh kept taking crucial wickets whenever the hosts appeared to gain momentum with a few boundaries. In the end, it was a vital cameo from Brad Evans that ruined the visitors' efforts. In the final over, Rana, who had bowled extraordinary figures of 3/8 from three overs up until that point, was bowled by Evans, who hit him for four boundaries, helping Zimbabwe to a successful conclusion.