Bangladesh 144 for 6 (Tanzid 66, Ngarava 2-20) beat Zimbabwe 143 for 7 (Myers 73, Saifuddin 2-35) by four wickets

Bangladesh achieved their first T20I series victory of 2026 after coming back from 1-nil down to beat Zimbabwe 2-1 in Bulawayo. They spoiled Sikandar Raza’s milestone match, in which he became the most capped Zimbabwean international, with 314 appearances across all formats.

Bangladesh, without the injured Nahid Rana, limited Zimbabwe to a below-par score with a five-man attack. Taskin Ahmed proved difficult to get away and was well supported by their two other seamers, Mohammad Saifuddin and Abdul Gaffar Saqlain. Zimbabwe had only one partnership of substance: the 71-run stand for the second wicket between Brian Bennett and Dion Myers, who went on to score his third T20I fifty. Their entire middle order could not get into double figures, which will be a concern as they prepare to take on India next week.

Similarly, Zimbabwe were over-reliant on the new-ball pair of Richard Ngarava and Blessing Muzarabani. Ngarava got an early wicket and the pair, along with Brad Evans, were economical but the rest of the attack could not back them up as Bangladesh provided a blueprint for batting. Tanzid Hasan was patient upfront and anchored the chase. He shared half-century stands with Parvez Hossain Emon and Towhid Hridoy and brought up his 13th half-century in the format. Tanzid is now level with Shakib-al-Hasan with the second most fifty-plus T20I scores for Bangladesh.

Zimbabwe’s record-maker, Raza, did not have similar reasons to celebrate but Zimbabwe will be reasonably pleased with how things have gone over the course of Bangladesh’s visit. They won the one-off Test and the ODI series 2-1.

Myers finally shows his might

It has been a quiet year for Zimbabwe’s No.3, Dion Myers, who had a top score of 44 in 12 innings in this format since July last year and with Ben Curran waiting in the wings, he would have known there was pressure to show what he can do. Bennett took the early lead and was on 24 off 17 balls after four overs while Myers had only faced two balls; his first shot in anger was a heave over deep square that went for four. Myers blossomed after the Powerplay, when he hit back-to-back boundaries off Abdul Gaffar Saqlain but it was only when Bennett was dismissed, that he emerged from the shadows. Myers was down on one knee to send Rishad Hossain over deep midwicket for the innings’ first six and then brought up fifty next ball with his fifth four. He rotated strike well when he could not find gaps and ran 22 singles and five twos, but his attempt to complete a sixth ended his innings when he was run out in the final over. Still, Myers made more than half of Zimbabwe’s total and a case for keeping his spot.

Saifuddin helps Bangladesh tie up the end

At 118 for 3 after 16 overs, Zimbabwe should have been eyeing at least 160 but an excellent effort from Bangladesh’s seamers denied them that. Saifuddin bowled the 17th over, and gave away three singles and a two before his final ball was too full and hit for four. In Rana’s injury-enforced absence, Saqlain was given the 18th and employed his change-ups to good effect. He proved difficult to get away and when Ryan Burl tried to get under a ball to hit high and long, he miscued to long-on. Saifuddin removed the dangerous Brad Evans and Clive Madande in successive balls in his final over, which ended with Myers hitting him for six. He finished with 2 for 35. Then it was over to Taskin Ahmed to finish and he bowled an excellent final over. He went full and wide, Milton Shumba could not get off strike and Myers was run out trying to force two, and conceded only five runs. Zimbabwe scored 25 for four wickets in the last four overs.

Tanzid steers Bangladesh chase

After finishing as the leading run-scorer in the ODI series, Tanzid Hasan also topped the T20I charts with a second match-winning knock in successive games. Opening the batting, he negotiated the early threat posed by Ngarava and Muzarabani, and even flicked Ngarava for six to assert his authority. Bangladesh were going slow but steady on 30 for 1 after the Powerplay and Tanzid’s strike-rate was below a run-a-ball but he paced his acceleration perfectly. He took on Tino Maposa, who landed the ball in the slot a few too many times, reached fifty off 45 balls and then took Bangladesh to victory with two balls to spare.

Drama in the final over

Bangladesh were a shot away from winning the series and had six balls to get there and were as good as home when Evans had one final say on proceedings. He started by getting Tanzid off strike with a single and then had new batter Mossadek Hossain to bowl at. Eyeing glory, Hossain flayed at a low full toss, missed and was bowled. Saifuddin, who took 28 runs off the last over in match two, then tried to finish it off quickly and went aerial but was caught at midwicket. Zimbabwe could sense a small opening. Next ball, Evans thought he had Mehidi Hasan out lbw but umpire Forster Mutizwa had signalled dead ball before the ball had left Evans’ hand. Tempers flared as Zimbabwe demanded explanations and almost overflowed when Evans’ fourth ball was hit for four to end the series in Bangladesh’s favour.

More to follow …