Zimbabwe chase redemption in T20I series against Bangladesh

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Bangladesh have been absolutely dominant so far on tour, first winning the one-off Test by a massive margin of 220 runs and then whitewashing Zimbabwe 3-0 in the ODI series.

The T20I leg of the tour will provide the visitors with an opportunity to get in the groove for Round 1 of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, where they have been pitted in Group B with Oman, Papua New Guinea and Scotland. Bangladesh were dealt a massive injury blow with Tamim Iqbal ruled out for the rest of the tour. In his absence, Mohammad Naim is expected to slot in at the top with Liton Das.

Zimbabwe meanwhile would be ruing the missed chances so far on tour. Though they were convincingly defeated in the one-off Test and first ODI, they were in with a chance to win both the second and third ODI. Taking positives from the last two games, the hosts will be looking to put up a better fight when they face Bangladesh in the T20I series.

Remember the last time

The last time the two teams met in T20Is was during Zimbabwe's tour of Bangladesh in March 2020 where the hosts came away with a 2-0 series win.

In the first T20I, Bangladesh restricted Zimbabwe to a paltry score of 119, mostly thanks to Brendan Taylor's knock of 59. On the back of Liton Das's 45-ball 60, the home side chased the total down with more than four overs to spare and nine wickets in hand.

In the second T20I, the Bangladesh batter dominated Zimbabwe's bowling and posted 200 runs in the first innings. Liton Das got his second half-century of the series while Soumya Sarkar took the bowlers to the cleaners with an unbeaten 32-ball 62. The visitors fell 48 runs short in their chase with Mustafizur Rahman and Aminul Islam bagging a three-for each.

What they said

Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh all-rounder):"In T20s both teams are in the game all the time, and we need to be at our best all the time, because one or two balls changes the whole game, so we are looking forward to that."