Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal each scored a hundred as Bangladesh thrashed Zimbabwe by 123 runs in the rain-hit third one-day international to complete a 3-0 clean sweep in three-match series in Sylhet on Friday.
The big win ensured that the Tigers gave a fitting farewell to their captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza, who stepped down as Bangladesh’s one-day international skipper on Thursday and possibly played his last international match on home soil.
Liton adorned the occasion with 176 off 143 balls, the highest ever ODI innings for Bangladesh, while Tamim played an unbeaten knock of 128 off 109 balls as the duo put 292-run in a record opening stand.
The mesmerising display by the opening duo took Bangladesh to 322-3 in stipulated 43 overs but as the match was interrupted by rain during Bangladesh’s innings Zimbabwe got a revised target of 342 runs under Duckworth-Lewis method.
But the visitors came nowhere near their target and struggled to get their innings going ever since Mashrafee struck in the first over and were bowled out for 218 in 37.3 overs.
Returning to the starting line-up, Mohammad Saifuddin claimed highest 4-41 while Mashrafee (1-47), Taijul Islam (2-38 ), Mustafizur Rahman ( 1-32) all were on the wickets column, with Sikandar Raza making highest 61 for Zimbabwe.
Apart from Mashrafee’s farewell match as captain, the game will now also be remembered for Liton’s innings and his record partnership with Tamim, who was equally impressive on his way to back-to-back hundred.
Liton, who struck 16 fours and eight sixes in his third ODI century and second in the series, grabbed the record Bangladesh highest innings from his opening partner Tamim, who struck 158 runs only in the previous match of the series.
Rain halted the game after 32.2 overs of Bangladesh’s innings and the match was reduced to 43-over-a-side when play resumed, prompting the openers to go berserk, leaving Zimbabwe clueless.
Liton and Tamim were batting on 182 runs during the interruption and added 110 runs in 8.3 overs before being separated.
Liton, who completed his century before the interruption, had luck on his side as he was reprieved on a no-ball on 107 runs and was also dropped on 122 and 144 respectively by Sikandar Raza and Wesley Madhevere.
Carl Mumba finally dismissed Liton as Raza took the catch at long on ending the record stand, which surpassed Sakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah’s 224-run fifth wicket stand during the 2017 Champions Trophy against New Zealand in Cardiff.
Mumba later took the wicket of Mahmudullah (three) and debutant Afif Hossain (seven) to finish with 3-69 as Tamim, who smashed seven fours and six sixes, stayed unbeaten with his 13th ODI century.
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