After captain Zakir Hasan’s century and Iftekhar’s stormy fifty, Ratul’s batting storm has thrown a tough challenge of 365 runs in front of the visiting Zimbabwe A team in the first match of the 3-match ODI series.

Zimbabwe A won the toss and sent Bangladesh to bat at the Shahid Chandu Stadium in Bogra on Monday. Despite losing opener Shahadat for 11 runs, team leader Zakir Hasan started the batting frenzy with Iftekhar Ahmed Ifti.

The two put on a partnership of 158 runs in just 123 balls to put the team on the path to a big total. Iftekhar scored 70 runs in 58 balls before returning to the dressing room for the team’s 169 runs. Iftekhar’s innings was studded with 6 boundaries and 3 overs.

Then, captain Zakir formed another fast-paced partnership with Amit Hasan. Zakir scored a magnificent century in just 84 balls. After building a partnership of 62 runs, Zakir’s royal innings ended with 119 runs for the team and 231 runs for the team. Then, after 31 runs from Amit Hasan, 34 from Yasir Rabbi and 27 runs from Akbar Ali, Ratul’s torrid innings began. Samiun Bashir Ratul scored 41 runs in just 18 balls with 3 fours and 3 huge sixes. In the end, Bangladesh A’s innings ended at 364 runs after losing all the wickets.

For Zimbabwe A, Ernest Mashuku took 3 wickets, Antum Nagvi and Michael Frost took 2 wickets each.

Although the BCB allowed spectators to watch the game without tickets, the attendance at the field was very low. Although most of the galleries of the field were full of spectators in the past, today’s picture was completely different. Although a gallery in the pavilion was filled with spectators, the entire stadium was empty.