Dark clouds gathered over the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium. The weather forecast on Tuesday and Wednesday predicted rain, but the Bangladeshi bowlers did not want inclement weather to interfere with their morale-boosting victory. The spin duo of Bangladesh – Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam set jitters in Zimbabwe batting line-up to seal a victory by an innings and 106 runs. This is the second innings victory for the Tigers in their Test journey. The first one was against West Indies on the same ground in 2018.
?? win by an innings and 106 runs! ?
Nayeem Hasan finishes with a five-wicket haul, and match figures of 9/152 ? #BANvZIM pic.twitter.com/5f1YdFotPs
— ICC (@ICC) February 25, 2020
Zimbabwe never looked settled enough to put up a fight. The wicket was still good enough to occupy the crease if not play strokes freely. But the kind of strokes executed by the batsmen of visiting team, only let them slid down, down and down.
Zimbabwe are not a competitive unit but they do have some senior members in the side to show the way. When a senior player like Brendan Taylor executes such poor shots, you can't expect much from others. The first step is to have the intent to fight & rest would follow. #BANvZIM
— Faisal Caesar (@faisalyorker1) February 25, 2020
The current Zimbabwean unit might not be as competitive as the one they used to be once upon a time, but they do have senior players, who can show the way – when an experienced campaigner like Brendan Taylor executes poor strokes, what can you expect from others? Neither Nayeem nor Taijul posed that much of a threat nor did the track transformed into a rank-turner that a batsman would not be able to defend and spend time at the crease. But Zimbabwe simply surrendered meekly.
Anyhow, this victory should boost the confidence of Tigers. Their next outing would be against a competent Pakistani unit in Karachi and one expects the Tigers to give their best shot against Pakistan. But only time will tell how much this one-off Test would help Bangladesh in improving their Test performance.
