Shawdesh Desk:

Young batsman Afif Hossain struck 52 off 26 balls while Mosaddek Hossain made an unbeaten 30 as Bangladesh survived a scare to beat Zimbabwe by three wickets in the opening match of the tri-nation Twenty20 tournament in Mirpur on Friday.

Afif struck eight fours and a six for his maiden Twenty20 fifty batting at number eight and put a record 82-run with Mosaddek  for the seventh wicket to take Bangladesh close after Zimbabwe had posted 144-5 in their stipulated 18 overs.

Neville Madziva dismissed Afif in the second ball of the final over but Mohammad Saifuddin hit the bowler for a boundary in the fourth ball to guide Bangladesh to 148-7 in 17.4 overs for a last-over win.

Afif’s performance overshadowed a brilliant all-round effort of Ryan Burl, who struck 57 off 32 balls to help Zimbabwe post a competitive score before taking a wicket and a stunning catch at the deep.

When Burl took the blinder at midwicket off Madziva to end the stop-start innings of Sabbir Rahman, Bangladesh fell into deep trouble losing their first six wickets for 60 runs in the 10th over.

Afif hit Madziva for a boundary only in his second delivery before smashing Sean Williams for two fours and a six in the next over to swing the momentum.

Mosaddek joined the act by hitting Burl for two consecutive sixes to finally revive the hope of Bangladesh.

Afif and Mosaddek soon overtook Mahmudullah and Sohag Gazi’s previous highest seventh wicket partnership record of 57 runs against New Zealand in 2013 as Bangladesh edged closer to a win.

Burl and Tinotenda Mutombodzi earlier put 81 runs in an unbroken sixth wicket stand after their side was reduced to 63-5 in the 10th over.

Burl, who was dropped on six by Saifuddin, made the best use of the opportunity to take Zimbabwe innings beyond Bangladesh’s reach after they were sent in by Bangladesh skipper Sakib al Hasan in a rain-soaked pitch.

Sakib bore the brunt of his onslaught as he hit Bangladesh skipper for three fours and as many sixes in the 16th over to guide Zimbabwe to a strong finish.

Sakib conceded 30 runs in that over, which made it the second costliest over for a Bangladeshi bowler in T20s only seconded by Saifuddin’s 31 against South Africa in Potchefstroom in 2017.

The match was halted for nearly 10 minutes due to a power failure after the 17th over of the Zimbabwe innings.

Taijul Islam earlier struck in the first ball of his Twenty20 career, taking the wicket of Brendan Taylor for six to give Bangladesh first breakthrough in the match.

Mustafizur Rahman removed Craig Ervine for 11 before Saifuddin ended the positive innings of Masakadza, who made 34 off 26 balls with five fours and a six.

Mosaddek took the fourth wicket when he removed Williams for two while Timycen Maruma was run out for one.

Rain and wet outfield earlier curtailed the match into an 18-over per side affair and forced a delayed start.