Bangladesh vs. Zimbabwe: Winners and Losers from ODI Series

Zimbabwe completed their tour of Bangladesh without winning a game, as they went down 5-0 to their hosts in the one-day international series.

For the home side it was a strong return, with a number of their batsmen and bowlers hitting form at just the right time.

Meanwhile, the visitors had some problems in both those areas and have some issues to contend with ahead of the upcoming Cricket World Cup.

Let’s take a look at some winners and losers from the series.

In his first ODI series since returning from a ban, Shakib Al Hasan rose to the occasion in spectacular fashion.

His first game back was a dominant all-round performance, as he scored 101 with the bat and took 4-41 with the ball.

The rest of the series did not quite hit those heights, but after a difficult few months, Al Hasan is back to something approaching his best for Bangladesh.

It was a difficult series for Zimbabwe’s captain, who looked promising with the bat but did not quite score the bulk of runs he would have desired.

With the ball, Chigumbura was expensive and wicketless, seeing his 14 overs disappear at an economy rate of 5.28 runs per over.

Even worse, he was fined 20 percent of his match fee for a slow over rate in the fourth ODI to compound the misery.

The talented all-rounder has plenty to ponder with the World Cup getting very close.

Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmudullah has had a poor run in recent times, especially with the bat, as he has been in a trough for about two years.

However, the 28-year-old seems to have come out of his funk with an unbeaten 82 in the fourth ODI and 51 not out in the fifth.

It could be just the spark he needs for more success in the international game.

A chronic lack of depth in the bowling department left Zimbabwe struggling throughout this series, especially when it came to finding a fifth bowler to back up the four frontliners.

Hamilton Masakadza, Vusi Sibanda, Elton Chigumbura and Timycen Maruma all struggled to fill the gap left by a genuine fifth bowler, and all conceded plenty of runs.

It speaks of a lack of resources in Zimbabwean cricket and is something that must somehow be remedied ahead of the World Cup.

Handed the captaincy for this series after it was split across the three formats, Mashrafe Mortaza had plenty to contend with for Bangladesh.

However, a 5-0 victory combined with a strong bowling performance will give the seamer a great deal of confidence moving forward.

That confidence is clearly shared by the Bangladesh Cricket Board too, as they have backed him to lead his country in the World Cup.

An unsavoury incident in the third ODI left a sour taste in the mouth of all concerned, and it involved outgoing batsman Hamilton Masakadza and fielder Tamim Iqbal among others.

Masakadza had just been dismissed, controversially caught behind, and he was reluctant to leave the crease after television replays showed he had not hit the ball.

As Bangladesh celebrated, Iqbal appeared to say something to Masakadza, to which the Zimbabwe batsman reacted strongly and had to be led away by a team-mate.

It led to an official reprimand for a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Masakadza, while Tamim Iqbal was docked 15 percent of his match fee.