Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza praises the bowlers and the youngsters after another defeat against Bangladesh in the fourth T20I in Mirpur on Friday (May 10).

After being sent to bat first, Bangladesh started so outstandingly that they made 100-run partnership in the opening and lost first wicket at the 11.2 overs when they were at 101 run. But after that, Zimbabwe bowlers changed the whole scenario of the match with some fantastic bowling. They took Bangladesh’s last 9 wickets for 42 runs and bundled them out for 143 runs in 19.5 overs. Luke Jongwe was the best bowler for Zimbabwe with 3 wickets. Youngster Brian Bennett took 2 wickets.

“I have always backed my players, from the bowling point of view, we were fantastic, but we have bowled well in the last few games,” Raza said.

In reply, the batting woe of the top-order continued for the Zimbabwe as they lost 3 wickets in the powerplay within just 32 runs. Then, again youngster Johnathan Campbell played a solid knock of 31 runs to keep Zimbabwe in the chase. But in the end, Zimbabwe were 5 runs short as they were all out for 138 runs.

“We keep getting closer and closer, I'm proud of the way the youngsters are chipping, they have put their hands up and are pushing themselves to do better. But the top-order needs to chip and I need to score more runs. The batting has been a let-down. We've lost a cluster of wickets, we've lost a few quick wickets after a partnership. I can live with these mistakes, we've a young team and they've shown a lot of fighting abilities,” Raza added.