UNB : Bangladesh whitewashed Zimbabwe 5-0 in the Bashundhara Cement ODI series beating the visitors by five wickets in the last match at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur on Monday. This is the second 5-0 ODI series win for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe after whitewashing them in November-December 2006, also on home ground. After this whitewash, Bangladesh jumped 22 points ahead against Zimbabwe in the ICC’s ODI rankings. Taijul Islam became the first bowler in ODI history making a hat-trick on debut, with his spin wizardry to grab four wickets in the day’s match, and was adjudged man-of-the-match. With his four-wicket haul, Taijul became the fourth Bangladesh bowler to make an ODI hat-trick after Shahadat Hossain, Abdur Razzak and Rubel Hossain. Test skipper Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored 11 runs in the day’s match (77 runs in the 4th, 33 runs in the 3rd, 27 runs in the 2nd, and 65 runs in the 1st match), was adjudged player of the series. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina witnessed the afternoon session of the match, after the drinks break, when the Tigers were batting. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hasan Papon also witnessed match seating beside the Prime Minister. Later, the Prime Minister distributed the prizes and handed over the ODI trophy to captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza and the Test trophy to captain Mushfiqur Rahim. In the day’s match, chasing nominal target of 129 runs, Bangladesh began dismally but reached the target scoring 130 runs for 5 in 24.3 overs, much to the relief of anxious home crowd. Mahmudullah, who hit his carrier-best unbeaten 82 runs in the 4th match on Friday, made his 11th ODI half-century scoring not out 51 runs off 55 balls with 10 fours to be the day’s highest scorer for Bangladesh. Debutant Soumya Sarkar smashed 20 runs off 18 balls with four fours while Sabbir Rahman (not out 13) and Tamim Iqbal (10) were the other double digit scorers for the home side.
