Soumya Sarkar guides Bangladesh to win in series decider vs Zimbabwe

Soumya Sarkar returned figures of 219 with the ball before scoring a careerbest 68 as Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets to take the T20 International series 21 at the Harare Sports ClubOpting to bat first on Sunday night Zimbabwe scored 193 for 5 in the allotted 20 overs but thanks to Sarkars careerbest 68 the visitors won the match with four balls to spareZimbabwe were off to a flying start with openers Tadiwanashe Marumani and Wessley Madhevere taking the attack to the bowlers Madhevere in particular showed great intent and smashed Taskin Ahmed for five consecutive fours in the fourth over of the inningsThe home side finished the powerplay at 631 with Mohammad Saifuddin claiming the wicket of Marumani on the last ball of the sixth overRegis Chakabva joined Madhevere at the crease and ensured the scoring rate did not drop after the fielding restrictions as they raced to 101 at the end of 10 overs It took a twoplayer catch off Sarkar on the boundary to bring Chakabvas 22ball 48 blitzkrieg to an endIn the same over Sarkar removed Sikander Raza for a duck his second of the series as the standin skippers poor form continued Madhevere kept going despite losing partners at the other end and brought up his fifty with a four in just 31 balls However his innings too soon came to an end as he topedged a reverse sweep to the third man off Shakib Al HasanBangladeshs chase of 194 got off to a bad start as they lost Mohammad Naim in the third over Shakib and Sarkar kept the scoreboard ticking but didnt really get going in the powerplay finishing at 501 after six oversAlso Read IND vs SL Suryakumar Yadavs fifty bowlers help India to victory in first T20IWith the asking rate over 105 and climbing Shakib hit Luke Jongwe for two consecutive sixes in the eighth over but holed out in the deep trying to clear the fielder at long offStill needing 124 off 74 balls at that point the visitors couldnt afford to slow down and decided to take the attack to the opposition Sarkar soon brought up his halfcentury and kept hitting crucial boundaries in the company of skipper Mahmudullah who himself was striking at a rate of over 150 at that pointNeeding just 13 in the last two overs Bangladesh completed their secondhighest chase in T20Is with four balls to spare despite losing Mahmudullah in the 19th over with Shamim Hossain hitting the winning runs as he remained unbeaten on 31 off just 15 ballsBrief scores Zimbabwe 1935 in 20 overs Wessley Madhevere 54 Regis Chakabva 48 Soumya Sarkar 219 lost to Bangladesh 1945 in 192 overs Soumya Sarkar 68 Mahmudullah 34 Luke Jongwe 242Also Read Tokyo 2020 Indian mens archery team knocks out Kazakhstan for QF against KoreaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever