Touring Bangladesh have continued their domination over Zimbabwe, winning the first T20 international by eight wickets in Harare
Match Report:
ScorecardBangladesh outclass Zimbabwe in first T20
Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar have both scored half-centuries as Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by eight wickets to win the first match of their Twenty20 series at the Harare Sports Club.
The pair featured in a 102-run opening wicket partnership to set Bangladesh on their way to a comfortable victory as they chased down a target of 153 for victory with seven balls to spare on Thursday.
Naim finished on 63 not out, while Sarkar got to 50 before being run out.
Bangladesh are in good form ahead of a scheduled five-match T20 series against Australia that was confirmed on Thursday evening, but a positive COVID-19 case in the West Indies camp, where Australia are currently playing an ODI series, has now put that tour in jeopardy.
Zimbabwe, who won the toss, made a good start with Regis Chakabva transferring his ODI form to the T20 format by scoring 43 to guide Zimbabwe to 3-91 after 10 overs.
But they added only 61 more as wickets tumbled in the next nine overs and were bowled out with one over to spare, Mustafizur Rahman taking 3-31.
The sides meet again in the three-game series on Friday and Sunday.
Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe in their one-off Test match this month and also wrapped up a 3-0 win in the one-day international series this week.