Tamim Iqbal Leads Bangladesh to 3-1 Series Win

Chittagong: Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal slammed a brilliant 95 off 96 balls to lead his side to a six-wicket win in the fifth and final One-Day International against Zimbabwe at Dhaka on Sunday.

With this win Bangladesh won the series 3-1.

Iqbal's knock helped Bangladesh overhaul Zimbabwe's target of 188 for six with absolute ease. Bangladesh overhauled the target in 42.5 overs.

Zimbabwe opted to bat first, but lost its top-order to an incisive Mashrafe Mortaza. Craig Ervine 46 (1x4) teamed up former skipper Tatenda Taibu 64 (104b, 1x4, 1x6) to revive the Zimbabwe innings. The duo put on 95 runs for the fourth wicket at a very slow rate.

Thereafter skipper Elton Chigumbura and Prosper Utseya contributed to swell the total. But the target was always going to be modest for the hosts.

In its reply Bangladesh lost opener Imrul Kayes early, but Iqbal slammed five boundaries and seven sixes as he gave the innings a lot of momentum in his 96-ball effort.

Junaid Siddique contributed a patient 56 off 116 balls to help Bangladesh overhaul the target with ease.
 
Smiles all around in the Bangladeshi camp. Back-to-back series wins for the home side. The dressing room is applauding the pair of Siddique and Rahim. Task pretty comfortably achieved, having lost Kayes pretty early.

The 136-run stand between Tamim and Siddique set up the game, as the former hammered 95 from 96 balls with 5 fours and 7 massive hits to the fence. Siddique too, played his part, with a calm 56.

The pace slowed down considerably once Tamim fell as Bangladesh took 14 overs to score the remaining 50 runs and lost a couple of wickets. Nothing for the visitors, except for the early strike from Mpofu. Utseya and Price were economical, but by no means threatening. They missed out on a few chances as well, else the game could have gone close. 3 defeats and a wash-out at this venue for Zimbabwe.
 
Tamim Iqbal has been named the man-of-the-match for his 95. says he really enjoyed his innings, especially after coming off an injury and praises his support staff. cheekily adds that 95 was good but 100 would have been better.

Abdur Razzak declared player of the series.

Brief scores
Zimbabwe 188 for 6 (Taibu 64, Ervine 46, Shakib Al Hasan 3-58)
Bangladesh 189 for 4 (Tamim Iqbal 95, Junaid Siddique 56*)
Result Bangladesh won by six wickets
MOM Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh)
Man of the series Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh)