ZIM vs BAN

So Zimbabwe get one over Bangladesh again who are yet to win a game this tour. A 1-0 lead for the Chevrons with the next two games coming up back-to-back within the next 4 days at the same venue. We will catch you again with the second game, for now this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of Karthik Raj, Bidipto Datta and everyone else in the team. Cheers!

Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe Captain): I thought this was a 150-155 par wicket. For us to go above par, it is one positive. Fielding we were 8/10. Bowling we were spot on. There are a lot of positives in all three departments. I was telling the coach that even if we were 7 or 7.5/10 and still win, we can still get better. It is nice that Brian (Bennett) is still in a very positive frame of mind even though he didn't have many runs behind him. We still backed him and gave him the confidence. They have been clinical for a very long time. The three fast bowlers lifting their standards to the rest of the world, as a captain I am very happy. The most important thing is the way we have gone about things. You know that it is difficult to take 10 wickets in Bulawayo. The World Cup was a real eye opener for us, we were amongst the Top 6 or 7 teams there, probably even Top 5. When we finished the World Cup, we had a map again on how to get better. We have identified two things. Two out of three areas were achieved which I am very happy about.

Richard Ngarava is the Player of the Match for his 4/26. This is what he had to say: I don't know what to say but I am quite happy that the team came out with a win. (how is his body?) Feeling quite nicely. Everyone was prepared to take the field and defend that total which was very nice. (what did he make of the conditions?) It was quite slow off the deck but of course as a cricketer you adjust to whatever conditions you get and I was pretty happy that I was able to adjust and everyone was able to adjust. (what was the chat at the halfway mark?) We did not chat a lot, to be honest, it is always between the coach and the captain to work around the combinations. (thoughts on Muzarabani's bowling) He is a champion bowler, can't really say more

Towhid Hridoy (Bangladesh Captain): We want to take advantage from early morning. Bowlers bowled really well. We need to work on some things. It is a sporting wicket, it is a very good wicket to bat. We were in very good shape. We just wanted to take advantage from these conditions but the batting unit didn't do well. He is a very good bowler. Last couple of years he has been doing well, hopefully he will continue. To chase 170, you need one or two big partnerships. If we face the same situation again, will look to build partnerships!

4:01 PM local time, 7:31 PM IST: MATCH SUMMARY

Zimbabwe (170/6 in 20 overs) beat Bangladesh (138 all-out in 19 overs) by 32 runs

Brian Bennett 44(30) | Blessing Muzarabani 4/18
Yasir Ali 54(38) | Nahid Rana 4/26

Clinical performance from the Chevrons again, that familiar duo of Muzarabani and Ngarava combine for 8/44 in 8 overs and bowl Zimbabwe to victory in this first T20I in Bulawayo to seal a 1-0 lead in the 3-match series

They were brilliant in the field as well, took pretty much everything that came their way barring one and complemented their efforts with the bat to hand Bangladesh yet another defeat in this tour which keeps getting worse for the Tigers

Bennett's 44 with the bat at the start and Evans' sparkling finishing cameo of 19* from 10 lifted Zimbabwe to 170 with the bat in the first innings having been inserted in. At that stage, it looked like a competitive total but Zimbabwe did leave a few runs out there from the position they were at one stage. Nahid Rana was the star with the ball for Bangladesh, his 4-er kept Zimbabwe in check before Evans took him down in the final over of the innings

In the run chase, Bangladesh never really got the kick they needed. Ngarava broke the back of the chase inside the powerplay dismissing the top-3. Bangladesh were in a spot of bother at 34/3 which is where Yasir Ali came into the picture

His maiden T20I fifty made sure that Bangladesh fought but the next best score for any batter Bangldesh was just 19 highlighing the lack of support from the other end for the half-centurion. Mahedi Hasan did try, he stitched in a 50-run stand with Yasir but his contribution was not good enough

With 47 needed in 4 overs and both Yasir and Mahedi on the crease, it looked like the game was on but then Muzarabani came back and broke the partnership by dismissing Mahedi. In the next over, Ngarava dismissing Yasir Ali was the final nail in the coffin and then it was just a mere formality as Muzarabani followed to clean up the tail and seal the victory by a significant margin

18.6 Blessing Muzarabani to Nahid Rana, KNOCKED OVER! ZIMBABWE WIN THE FIRST T20I! Full and angling in, Nahid backs away once again and misses his heave once again as the off-stump is flatted. Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava have combined for 7 wickets while Zimbabwe wrap up a 32-run victory!

18.5 Blessing Muzarabani to Nahid Rana, short of a length and angling in, Nahid backs away swipe it through square-leg but he fails to make contact.

18.4 Blessing Muzarabani to Nahid Rana, full and angling in, Nahid makes room to drive but he misses with the ball going just past the leg-stump!

18.1 Blessing Muzarabani to Nasum Ahmed, SUPERB CATCH TAKEN! Short of a length on the stumps, Nasum looks to clear his front-leg and slog but he skies it. Tashinga Musekiwa runs in from deep square-leg and takes a composed high catch. That went way up in the air and you needed to remain calm to complete the catch!

If Bangladesh had Nahid Rana with 4/26, Ngarava has got exactly that and returned the favor. 33 needed off the last 2 overs, this is now Zimbabwe's to lose