Campbell heroics fall short as Taskin Ahmed inspires Bangladesh to victory over Zimbabwe

ASHLEY DUBE 

CHATTOGRAM, Bangladesh — Pacer Taskin Ahmed helped Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by six wickets with nine balls remaining in their second Twenty20 international match to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Image: @Zimcricketv/X

Taskin followed his 3-14 in the opener with 2-18 on Sunday as Zimbabwe was restricted to 138-7 after Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto won the toss and chose to field.

Bangladesh reached 142-4 in 18.3 overs in reply with Towhid Hridoy hitting a 25-ball 37 not out.

Mahmudullah, who sealed the victory with an elegant cover-drive for a boundary, was unbeaten on 26 off 16.

Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe in the first game by eight wickets and made no changes for the second T20I. Zimbabwe made three changes from the previous match-up.

When openers Litton Das and Tanzid Hasan put on 41 runs, it appeared that Bangladesh’s chase would be smooth sailing but Luke Jongwe (2-35) put up a fight. 

Pacer Ainsley Ndlovu, one of three changes for Zimbabwe, broke through with the wicket of Tanzid, who played a match-winning 67 not out in the first game.

Tanzid was dismissed on 18 after failing to execute his slog-sweep shot properly.

Earlier on, Johnathan Campbell recorded the highest individual score on debut for Zimbabwe in a T20 International, but it proved insufficient as his team fell to a six-wicket defeat against Bangladesh in the second of five T20 matches.

Campbell struck an impressive 45 runs, surpassing Tarisai Musakanda's previous record of 43 set on debut.

Despite being dropped early in his innings with just a single to his name, Johnathan Campbell went on to score an impressive 45 runs, and would be disappointed not getting a half century on debut.

His knock, which included three sixes and four fours, along with Brian Bennett's unbeaten 44 (three sixes, two fours), helped Zimbabwe reach a respectable total of 138/7. Their partnership contributed a crucial 73 runs to the team's score.

Zimbabwe's innings had gotten off to a shaky start similar to the first match. with the team struggling at 42/5. Joylord Gumbie's 17 off 30 deliveries epitomized the low scoring rate by the Chevrons.

The Chevrons' struggles were partly due to the challenging surface and partly due to their own lack of aggressive intent. The Bangladesh bowlers bowled tightly, but Zimbabwe could have been more proactive in their shot selection. 

Zimbabwe's top order failed to score a boundary in the opening batting powerplay with the first one coming after 6.3 overs.