After a shocking defeat in the tri-nation opener, things went from bad to worse as the Bangladesh lost the first game of the three-match series by two wickets. However, the Tigers yesterday savored success by securing a 2-1 series victory against Zimbabwe yesterday.
The initial target was to whitewash the lowly African nation in the series as consolation for their first defeat but Mohammad Ashraful's men settled for a face-saving series victory when they beat Zimbabwe by six-wicket in the series deciding curtailed-over match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Definitely it came as a relief but the series left more questions to answer ahead of their next international assignment at home against Pakistan in March. All the credit must go to the bowlers who continued their recent impressive performance but coach Jamie Siddons needs to find swift answers about his brittle top order batting.
In reply to a paltry target of 120 in 37 overs, Bangladesh reached home for the loss of four wickets with 27 balls remaining. However, the scoreboard was misleading as the top order batting looked shaky despite the fact that the pitch was much better than in the first two games.
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful also admitted that they have to give a long look at their batting to earn international success.
"It's really fine that we finally bounced back to win the series and I must say our bowlers played an excellent role in the series victory. They (the bowlers) showed character in the last few series but we have a real headache with our batting," said Ashraful in a post-match briefing.
"If our batting had clicked like the bowling we could get much more international success in the last few months. So, we have to work hard on our batting and I think the coming premier division cricket league will be helpful for us to return among runs," he added.
He however said that it was not easy to bat on this pitch and that was the reason the low-scoring games were produced in the tri-nation and three-match one-day series.
"Yes, most of our players are stroke-makers and that's why it was not so easy for us to score runs here. But as the bowlers were in good form, the management had decided to give them the advantage," he explained.
"I was lucky enough as we won the toss in three games. In the first game I made a mistake by deciding to bat first. The toss was a really important factor," he confessed when asked about how he evaluated his team's 2-2 record against the Zimbabweans.
Ashraful praised his bowlers, particularly his deputy Mashrafe Bin Mortaza.
"We were under pressure after the defeat in the first game but the bowlers did an excellent job especially what I believe is that Mashrafe is in his peak form for the last one year. And Shakib was excellent. I believe that as a team we are improving," said Ashraful.
Zimbabwe skipper Prosper Utseya also heaped praise on the Tigers as he believes that Bangladesh has been improving day by day in the international arena.
"Bangladesh is showing improvement and they deserved the victory. We should work out our top order failure, though given the conditions it was not easy to bat here," said Prosper.
Mohammad Ashraful might be a relieved man after the series win but in no way can he relax because the boos of the supporters while he was receiving the trophy will ring on in his ears for a long time to come.
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