Bangladesh were hosts to Zimbabwe in the three-format bilateral series played in 2020. Both teams faced off each other in 1 test match, 3 ODI’s and 2 T20 matches respectively. Bangladesh had a decent run of form against their opponents in the T20 format. They have won 7 out of the 11 T20 matches against Zimbabwe and lost 4. The Bangladeshis also had the upper hand over Zimbabwe owing to an outstanding run of form against their opponents. They white-washed Zimbabwe by 3-0 in the three-match ODI series.
Both T20 matches were played at Dhaka. These two games were seen as a great practice opportunity for the upcoming T20 world cup in Australia. The series largely helped both teams to work on their consistency and weak points in their game. Bangladesh stood victorious in both matches owing to a great team effort and some excellent batting performances. The Bangladeshis were playing at home, which meant great support but also big expectations. They stood true to their expectations as they deserved all the praise for winning both the ODI and T20 series. The leader board saw both Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar stand tall on 1st and 2nd positions respectively. The leader board for most wickets taken was also topped by the Bangladeshis as Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam stood in first and second positions. All three of the top three positions for the number of catches taken were also bagged by the Bangladeshis with Soumya Sarkar bagging 4 catches in two matches. He also was the man of the match in the 1st T20 as he fired Bangladesh to a thumping win scoring 62 runs in just 32 balls.
Zimbabwe had won the toss and decided that they will bowl first. The match followed a similar script that was seen over the three ODI’s. Bangladesh was off to a good start, continued their decent batting performance throughout the inning and scored hefty 200 runs. They continued to further damage the Zimbabweans in the 2nd inning by delivering an impressive bowling performance. The Zimbabweans could only score a total of 152 runs in 19 overs before all of them were sent back to the pavilion. Bowler Mustafizur Rahman took 3 wickets while conceding 32 runs in 4 overs. In the 2nd T20, Bangladesh completed a 100% win record against Zimbabwe as they comfortably won by 9 wickets. This particular series energized the Bangladeshi squad ahead of a busy year of cricket without talisman Shakib Al Hasan.
In the second match, Bangladesh thrived on another good start by their opening batsmen Tamim Iqbal and Liton Das who performed well in the power-play. Other batsmen also helped the Bangladeshi team which saw Soumya Sarkar added 40 runs to their tally.
The man of the series was awarded to Liton Das. Zimbabwe will look to forget their horror performance in the entirety of the series and will look to work on their weaker parts before the T20 world cup that is set to be played later in Australia.