Liton ton, Saifuddin cameo takes Bangladesh to 321-6

Riding on Liton Das' brilliant century and Mohammad Mithun's fifty, Bangladesh have set Zimbabwe a target of 322 in the ODI series opener at Sylhet. 

On a humid day at Sylhet, Liton started to display his range of shots from the very beginning since his skipper Mashrafe Mortaza opted to bat first. This match also marked Mashrafe's return as ODI skipper after the 2019 World Cup and he was greeted back in a grand manner by Liton.

Liton put up three vital stands with Tamim Iqbal, Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim to provide Bangladesh with a solid foundation. But as Liton went on to pick up his second ODI ton, nobody else could manage to make it big after getting off to starts. Adding insult to Shanto's injury, he was given LBW on a poor call from the umpire and he also could not review as Tamim had lost it earlier in the innings. 

Liton picked up his century off 95 balls and became relentless after reaching there. In no time he reached 126 but he had to walk off as he had a cramp. 

Liton might feel that he missed an opportunity to not only score Bangladesh's first ODI hundred but also, Liton had the opportunity to break Tamim's record innings of 154. The manner he was going on, if it was not for the cramp, Liton could have. 

Mithun and Mahmudullah's stand of 68 runs off 57 deliveries ended when Chris Mpofu trapped Mahmudullah LBW for 32. The umpire had called it not out but replays showed that the veteran batsman was trapped in front and had to go. 

Mithun picked up his fifty off 40 deliveries and was immediately sent back as a Mpofu yorker hit him straight in front of the stumps and the umpire obliged. 

Mehidy Hasan departed soon after hitting a six but Mohammad Saifuddin's blistering cameo took Bangladesh to 321-6. Saifuddin took 22 off the last over including three sixes and stayed unbeaten on 28 off 15 deliveries. 

Brief Score

Bangladesh: 321-6 (Liton 126, Mithun 50, Saifuddin 28*, Mpofu 2-68, Mumba 1-45, Mutombodzi 1-47)