Soumya, Ebadat guide BCB XI to 8-wkt victory against Zimbabwe

Riding on Soumya Sarker and Ebadat Hossain's brilliant performances, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) XI registered an eight-wicket victory against touring Zimbabwe in the one-day practice match, reports UNB.

The match was held at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP) ground in Savar on Friday.

BCB XI skipper Soumya Sarkar's unbeaten 102* guided the hosts to 181 for 2 in 39 overs after restricting Zimbabweans to 178 for all in 45.2 overs. Pacer Ebadat Hossain did a marvelous job for the hosts taking five wickets for economic 19 runs in nine overs.

BCB XI lost two wickets -- Mizanur Rahman and Fazle Mahmud -- for 52 in 14.4 overs before Soumya paired with retired-hurt Mosaddek Hossain in the 3rd wicket stand for 112 off 18.2 overs to carry the team total to 164 in 33rd over.

Soumya stayed till the end facing 114 balls in the innings that featured 13 boundaries and one six. Mosaddek Hossain added 33 off 48 balls, including two boundaries and one six. F Mahmud was another double digit scorer for BCB XI adding 13 runs.

Sikandar Raza [1/21] was the only wicket taker for the visiting side.

Earlier, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first for their collection that was spurred by skipper Hamilton Masakadza's century of 102. Elton Chigumbura [47] was only other player who could manage double digit.

BCB XI two pace bowlers -- Ebadat and Mohammad Saifuddin -- shared eight wickets between them to bewilder the Zimbabweans.

Ebadat made the 1st breakthrough in the innings 3rd over dismissing opening batsman Craig Ervine on 7 and sucked the big hitter as he bowled out H Masakadza on 176/9 in the 45th over.

Ebadat sent Tarisai Musakanda and Brandon Mavuta - the number 8 and 9 batsmen - back to the pavilion with ducks and gave one run to have number-four Sean Williams to complete the five-wicket haul.

BCB XI's bowlers dismissed five Zimbabwean wickets within 16th over for a score of 47 runs before opener H Masakadza and E Chigumbura carefully played 28 overs to build up a solid partnership of 124 runs in the 6th wicket stand and later, no one among the next four batsmen could even reach the five-run mark.

Saifuddin broke the scary partnership on 171/6 in 44 overs, bowling out E Chigumbura, who played an innings of 83 balls to fire four boundaries and one six.  H Masakadza featured 14 boundaries and one six in his innings of 138 balls before being sent off by Ebadat in the next over.

Besides having E Chigumbura, Saifuddin trapped lbw Brendan Taylor and bowled out Donald Tiripano, conceding 32 runs in 7.2 overs.

Mohor Sheikh [1/18], who had only one first-class match experience with Rajshahi Division in National Cricket League (NCL) 2018 before the day, and Imran Ali [1/28] shared two wickets for the BCB XI.

The Zimbabweans are now on a tour to Bangladesh for three ODIs and two Tests against the hosts.