Raza, Madhevere, bowlers give Zimbabwe 1-0 lead

Zimbabwe 205 for 3 (Madhevere 67 (retd hurt), Raza 65*, Mustafizur 2-50) beat Bangladesh 188 for 6 (Nurul 42*, Shanto 37, Jongwe 2-34) by 17 runs

A late flourish by Bangladesh captain Nurul Hasan could not defy Zimbabwe, who kept their nerves to hold on to a 17-run win in the first T20I and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The win was fashioned by fifties from Wessly Madhevere and Sikandar Raza, followed by some efficient death bowling by Richard Ngarava and Luke Jongwe. This is Zimbabwe's sixth successive T20I win, their best-ever in the format.

Chasing a mammoth 206 for a win, Bangladesh were never really in the hunt until Nurul started hitting sixes in the last few overs, but an already struggling T20I side looked out of their depth all through.

This is the second time in the space of six T20Is that Zimbabwe have breached the 200-run mark. It is also the first time in eight years that Zimbabwe have taken a 1-0 lead in a bilateral series against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh still had an outside chance in the last two overs, but Ngarava and Jongwe did just about enough to close out the win.

Source: ESPNcricinfo