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Bulawayo, Zimbabwe: By the time the third T20I reached its final over in Bulawayo, Bangladesh had been through the full spectrum of a touring team’s emotions. They had been bowled out for 140 in a Test, hammered by an innings in three days, defended by 25 runs chasing 142 in an ODI, and outclassed in the very first T20I. The tour of Zimbabwe, quietly played against the backdrop of the FIFA World Cup, had turned into a humbling experience. And then, slowly, stubbornly, they fought their way back.
The tension of that final T20I — Zimbabwe needing just 144, Taskin Ahmed holding his nerve in the last over, Tanzid nursing his side to the target with two balls to spare — felt like a different tour altogether from the one that had begun in Harare three weeks earlier. It was the same Bangladesh that had arrived on June 28, but a version of them that had recalibrated, regrouped, and found something to hold on to.
The Test: Zimbabwe’s Statement of Ambition
The one-off Test at the Harare Sports Club was over before it had really begun. Bangladesh, choosing to field first, were reduced to rubble in two sessions on day one, bowled out for 140 with pace bowlers Blessing Muzarabani and Newman Nyamhuri exploiting a lively surface. The only resistance came from Mominul Haque, who scored 60, but Zimbabwe’s seam attack was relentless — it was only the second time in their Test history that all 20 opposition wickets fell to fast bowlers.
Zimbabwe’s reply was built around Innocent Kaia, who walked out and — almost single-handedly — matched Bangladesh’s entire first innings score before he was done. The 26-year-old batter made 140, his maiden Test century, anchoring Zimbabwe to 410 all out. Half-centuries from Craig Ervine and others buried Bangladesh beyond any realistic hope of survival. In the second innings, they managed only 185, with Muzarabani again the most dangerous, finishing with 4 for 65. Zimbabwe won by an innings and 85 runs — their biggest-ever Test victory, surpassing their innings and 73-run win over Afghanistan in October 2025 at the same venue.
The ODIs: Harare Nights and Curran’s Class
If the Test had shown one face of Zimbabwe’s rise, the ODI series confirmed it was no aberration. In the first ODI, Nahid Rana delivered one of the finest bowling performances in Bangladesh’s ODI history — 6 for 21 off 10 overs — yet it was Zimbabwe who won, defending just 141 with their own bowlers matching Rana’s effort. Nyamhuri took two wickets to go with his fielding heroics as Bangladesh were bowled out for 116. The hosts had done the unthinkable: defended under 150 in a 50-over match.
The second ODI brought the moment the series will be remembered for. Ben Curran, batting at number three, produced only the seventh instance of a Zimbabwean batter carrying through 50 overs and made an unbeaten 111 off 135 balls. He was joined at the end by Brad Evans, who smashed 58 not out off 38 balls, the pair adding a sixth-wicket stand that pushed Zimbabwe to 247 for 6 — a total that proved just enough. Bangladesh’s chase was tense and committed, Towhid Hridoy making 60 and Tanzid Hasan 57, but they fell 13 runs short as Ngarava and Muzarabani held their nerve. Zimbabwe had won the ODI series with a game to spare.
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Bangladesh pulled one back in the dead-rubber third ODI, bowling Zimbabwe out for 199 and chasing it down in 36 overs with 7 wickets in hand, Shoriful Islam taking 4 for 44. But the series was gone.
The T20I Comeback: Bangladesh Find Themselves Again
Entering the T20I series 2-0 down across formats and with their squad weakened by Nahid Rana’s injury, Bangladesh needed something to take home. Zimbabwe were not about to hand it to them. In the first T20I in Bulawayo, Muzarabani and Ngarava combined again to overwhelm Bangladesh’s batting, dismissing them for 138 in reply to 170 for 6. Ngarava, the Test and ODI star of the tour, took 4 for 26. Bangladesh were staring at a 3-0 format whitewash.
What followed was a different Bangladesh. In the second T20I, their openers came out with purpose and Mahedi Hasan and Rishad Hossain provided control with the ball as Zimbabwe, sloppy in the field, lost wickets in clusters. Bangladesh won by 34 runs to level the series and set up a decider.
The final T20I was as tense as anything the tour had produced. Zimbabwe posted 143 for 7, with Dion Myers delivering his best — a measured 73 that held their innings together after the top order stuttered. But it was the last match of the series that carried a special weight: Sikandar Raza, making his 314th international appearance, became the most-capped Zimbabwean cricketer in history across all formats, surpassing the previous record in a milestone moment for a player whose journey from Sialkot to becoming Zimbabwe’s most experienced international is one of the sport’s more remarkable stories.
Bangladesh made sure the occasion was bittersweet for Raza. Tanzid Hasan, who had been the most consistent batter in both limited-overs series, opened the innings and anchored a methodical chase, sharing half-century stands with Parvez Hossain Emon and Towhid Hridoy. His 66 not out off 58 balls — his 13th T20I fifty, level with Shakib Al Hasan for the second-most half-centuries in the format for Bangladesh — guided the visitors to 144 for 6 with two balls to spare. Tanzid was the Player of Both the Match and the Series.
Shared Honours, but Zimbabwe’s Tour
The final ledger read: Zimbabwe 1-0 in Tests, Zimbabwe 2-1 in ODIs, Bangladesh 2-1 in T20Is. On paper, honours split in white-ball cricket. In reality, this was a tour that confirmed Zimbabwe as a genuinely competitive Test nation, a team with the bowling depth to trouble any side in the world and batters capable of producing innings like Kaia’s 140 and Curran’s 111 when it matters most. The arrival of Nyamhuri as a legitimate match-winning all-rounder and the continued excellence of the Muzarabani-Ngarava new-ball partnership suggest this is a Zimbabwe side on an upward curve.
For Bangladesh, Tanzid’s consistency across formats — he was the leading run-scorer in both the ODI and T20I series — offers a foundation to build on ahead of a busy second half of the year. The T20I comeback win prevented a whitewash and gave the tour a narrative arc. But the Test defeat by an innings, and two ODI losses that both felt winnable, will linger as the truer summary of three weeks in southern Africa.
Tour Results: Test: Zimbabwe won by an innings and 85 runs (Zimbabwe’s biggest ever Test victory) ODI Series: Zimbabwe won 2-1 T20I Series: Bangladesh won 2-1
Player of the T20I Series: Tanzid Hasan (BAN) — 140 runs Player of the Test: Innocent Kaia (ZIM) — 140 Top ODI performer: Ben Curran (ZIM) — 111* in series-clinching 2nd ODI
