Sikandar Raza hit another century in the second match of the three-ODI series against Bangladesh Sunday and guided Zimbabwe to a historic series win in Harare.
Zimbabwe's last ODI series win against Bangladesh came in 2013. After a long wait of nine years, they again beat Bangladesh in an ODI series with one match to play.
The visitors batted first in today's match after losing the toss for the second time. They finished on 290-9, riding on an unbeaten 80 of Mahmudullah Riyad.
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Tamim Iqbal and Anamul Haque made a brisk start scoring 71 in 10.6 overs. Tamim perished for 50 off 45 balls. The next three batters – Aamul (20), Najmul Hossain Shanto (38) and Mushfiqur Rahim (25) failed to convert their promising starts into substantial scores.
For Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza bagged three wickets conceding 56 in his 10 overs while Wesley Madhevere took two conceding 40 in nine overs.
Chasing 290, the hosts lost three wickets for 27 runs. Two of their first three wickets were taken by pacer Hasan Mahmud who played his first match in this series.
In the fourth wicket stand, Zimbabwe added 22 runs. Taijul Islam took the fourth wicket. The spinner also played his first match in this series.
In the fifth wicket stand, shared by Sikandar Raza and Zimbabwean captain Regis Chkabva, the home side added 201 runs – Zimbabwe's first 200-run stand against Bangladesh in ODIs and overall third 200-run stand in ODIs against any opponent.
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Raza and Chakabva hit a 100 each. Raza had hit a ton in the first match of the series as well which helped Zimbabwe to register their maiden win against Bangladesh in nine years.
Today, the hosts chased down the target of 291 with five wickets in hand.
For Bangladesh, Hasan Mahmud and Mehidy Hasan Miraz bagged two wickets each.
"The series win is a massive achievement," Chakabva said after the match. "We have been playing some good cricket. We were itching to play good cricket."
"We've been trying to play positive cricket. The coaches asked me to take it deep and I batted positively. We have to play good cricket again, we'll be looking to win in the last match as well."
"The difference is four centuries for them and zero for us (in the series)," Bangladesh captain Tamim said after the match. "We put up a decent total. But all credit to Zimbabwe, they were the better team this series."
The last and final ODI of this series will take place on August 10 at the same venue. Before the ODI series, the hosts won the T20I series 2-1.