Imrul Kayes and Liton Das collaborated for a 148-run opening stand
In a dispiriting deuce, Zimbabwe's twelfth consecutive ODI loss also happened to be their twelfth consecutive ODI loss to Bangladesh, who prevailed by seven wickets in the second ODI on Wednesday (October 24) at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong. Chasing 247, a 148-run opening stand between Imrul Kayes and Liton Das spurred an unassailable 2-0 lead for the hosts in the three-match series.
Kayes followed up his hundred in the first ODI with a 90 in the second, staking a greater claim to being Tamim Iqbal's long-term opening partner. Liton Das wasn't too far behind with his candidacy, and impressed with a fluent 83 off 77 balls. Kayes's indifferent form at the start of his innings was brilliantly compensated by Das's strokeplay, and it set in motion a mammoth opening stand that ultimately proved to be Zimbabwe's undoing.
Das fell in the 24th over, bringing Fazle Rabbi to the crease. Yet to get off the mark in ODIs, Rabbi recorded his second duck in his second ODI game when he was stumped off the bowling of Sikandar Raza. Presented with a little opportunity window then, Zimbabwe failed to lay into it and allowed a 59-run stand to flourish between Kayes and Mushfiqur Rahim. Kayes fell on 90, giving Raza his third wicket of the match, but Bangladesh were well on the brink by then, finishing off the game with 5.5 overs to spare.
It was Brendan Taylor's 75 that earlier steered Zimbabwe to 246 for 7. The average first-innings score at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium is 201 but given how well-grassed the pitch was and how 11 out of 17 matches have been won by the chasing team, Zimbabwe always looked a bit short, especially against a team that's beaten them 11 times in the last 11 ODIs between the sides.
Lalchand Rajput had urged the top-five batsmen to stand up after the loss in the first ODI, and Taylor, even in what proved to be a defeat, responded beautifully, stroking a fluent 75 off 73 balls with the help of 9 fours and a six. He was given out LBW on 43 off the bowling of Mehidy Hasan, but a good review set him on course, with the ball-tracking suggesting that the ball was turning down the leg-side.
Mohammad Saifuddin, who picked three wickets in total, provided Bangladesh with the breakthrough early on. He replaced captain Mashrafe Mortaza, who was expensive in his two-over opening burst, and struck with the wicket of Hamilton Masakadza. That brought Taylor to the crease, and a 52-run stand for the second wicket between him and Cephas Zhuwao ensued, setting the platform for a typical recovery in the middle overs.
Hasan's first over was taken for 15 runs, which included a four and a six by Taylor, but the off-spinner struck through in his next, picking the wicket of Zhuwao with a miscued hit. Taylor and Sean Williams then put on 77 runs for the third wicket to help keep Zimbabwe afloat but Taylor's wicket in the 30th over - where he was pinned LBW by Mahmudullah - and Williams's slow scoring meant that the side struggled for momentum in the next few overs.
Sikandar Raza's quick 49 off 61 balls, ably supported by Peter Moor in the 41-run stand for the fifth wicket, provided the visitors with some respite after Williams's wicket. Though both fell in consecutive overs, it was at least a total that gave Zimbabwe some hope, only to be quashed by a massive opening stand and then a very mature 40 off 52 balls by Rahim.
Brief scores: Zimbabwe 246/7 in 50 overs (Taylor 75, Raza 49, Williams 47; Saifuddin 3-45) lost to Bangladesh 250/3 in 44.1 overs (Kayes 90, Das 83; Raza 3-43) by 7 wickets.