In the second game, Zimbabwe were involved in a dramatic final that saw many pendulum swings. Unlike against Pakistan, they were on the right side of the result, suffering a three-wicket loss to Bangladesh at the Gabba in Brisbane on Sunday.
With Zimbabwe needing five off the last ball, Bangladesh thought they had won when Blessing Muzarabani bounced, missed the final delivery of the innings by spinner Mosaddek Hossain and was bowled by wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan. The Bangladeshi players started to celebrate as the mood in the Zimbabwean dugout was high. As the players started to leave the field, the third umpire signaled a no-ball on the giant screen as the Bangladesh keeper collected the ball in front of the stumps.
The last ball had to be conceded to Zimbabwe again, now four free kicks needed. To Bangladesh’s relief, Mosaddeq delivered a dot ball, Muzarabani bounced and missed the full ball. It was one of the strangest finishes in a T20 game, but Bangladesh cheered and cheered all the way to the finish line. Now four points from three games, Zimbabwe have three points from as many games. Zimbabwe, who beat Pakistan in their previous encounter, will turn down a great opportunity to secure a place in the semi-finals.
Opening batsman Najmul Hossain Shanto was instrumental in Bangladesh’s victory, scoring 71 off 55 balls to help his team reach 150/7. Shaun Williams finished Zimbabwe’s reply at 147/8 with 64 not out. Left-hander Shanto reached his half-century off 45 deliveries and accelerated in the latter part of the innings. He took a liking to seamer Brad Evans and hit him for a six and two fours in the 16th over for 17 runs.
Pakistan defeated Holland
In the second match of the day, Pakistan registered a six-wicket win against the Netherlands at the Optus Stadium in Perth. It helped them open their account after last-ball losses to India and Zimbabwe in their first two games. Anything short of a win on Sunday would have killed their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
The Dutch batsmen on the field helping the strikers could not cope with the unrelenting hostility of the Pakistani attack. Mohammad Wasim took two scalps while Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf took one cap each. Leg-spinner Shadab Khan benefited from the pacers’ prowess, finishing with 3/22 in his four overs. In reply to Netherlands’ 91/9, Pakistan reached the target in 13.5 overs with six wickets in hand. Mohammad Rizwan (49-39b) is the best score of Pakistan team.
Brief scores: Bangladesh 150/7 (N Hossain Shanto 71; B Muzarabani 2/13); Zimbabwe 147/8 (S Williams 64, T Ahmed 3/19). Bangladesh won by 3 runs.
Netherlands 91/9 (C Ackermann 27; S Khan 3/22); Pakistan 95/4, 13.5 overs (M Rizwan 49). Pakistan won by 6 wickets.