Bangladesh moved to within one win of a series sweep over Zimbabwe after they eased to an eight-wicket victory over the tourists in the fourth match at Mirpur Stadium on Friday.
An unbeaten half century (58) by man of the match Aftab Ahmed helped Bangladesh reach 147 for two wickets in 32.2 overs, with Saqibul Hasan hitting the winning run for the hosts to end the contest not out on 31.
Aftab belted four sixes and three fours in his 69-ball knock, delighting a capacity crowd of 45,000 in a venue hosting its first international match.
It was his ninth half-century in 46 contests.
Opener Shahriar Nafees (34) was the other main contributor to the win before he was caught at third man by Keith Dabengwa off paceman Gary Brent, who also removed Mehrab Hossain Jr for 13.
Bangladesh won the toss and opted to bowl, then proceeded to rip through the Zimbabwe order to dismiss the tourists for 146.
Zimbabwe lost wickets with alarming regularity once opener Chamu Chibhabha was caught behind for four runs by keeper Mushfiqur Rahim off Mashrafe Mortaza to make it 10-1.
The Zimbabwe batsmen found Mortaza almost impossible to attack and the paceman finished with figures of 3-14 off 6.2 overs.
Elton Chigumbura and Keith Dabengwa top scored for the tourists with 32 runs apiece.
Chigumbura faced 47 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes, while Debengwa struggled to make his runs from 70 balls and hit just one boundary.
Captain Prosper Utseya was dropped on 11 by Bashar at short fine-leg off pacer Shahadat Hossain (2-36) before being caught by Hossain Jr at point off Mortaza for 21.
Spinners Abdur Razzak and Saqibul Hasan bagged two wickets each for 27 and 32 runs respectively, while Mohammad Rafique claimed 1-28.
Scorecard
Zimbabwe Innings
T. Mawoyo b Mortaza 14
C. Chibhabha c Rahim b Mortaza 4
H. Masakadza c Bashar b Razzak 13
B. Taylor st Rahim b Razzak 4
S. Williams lbw b S. Hossain 0
E. Chigumbura b Hasan 32
K. Dabengwa b S. Hossain 32
M. Nkala c Ashraful b Rafique 0
G. Brent c Ashraful b Hasan 5
P. Utseya c Hossain jnr b Mortaza 21
C. Mpofu not out 0
Extras (lb-3 nb-7 w-11) 21
Total (all out, 47.2 overs) 146
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-40, 3-40, 4-40, 5-63, 6-96, 7-97, 8-111, 9-134, 10-146
Bowling: M. Mortaza 6.2 - 2 - 14 - 3, S. Hossain 10 - 3 - 36 - 2 (nb-5 w-7), A. Razzak 9 - 2 - 27 - 2 (w-1), M. Rafique 10 - 0 - 28 - 1 (w-1), S. Hasan 10 - 1 - 32 - 2 (nb-1 w-2), M. Hossain jnr 2 - 0 - 6 - 0
Bangladesh Innings
S. Nafees c Dabengwa b Brent 34
M. Hossain jnr c Taylor b Brent 13
A. Ahmed not out 58
S. Hasan not out 31
Extras (nb-1 w-10) 11
Total (for 2 wickets, 32.2 overs) 147
Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-62
Bowling: C. Mpofu 6 - 0 - 31 - 0 (nb-1 w-4), E. Chigumbura 3 - 1 - 22 - 0, G. Brent 8 - 0 - 25 - 2 (w-1), M. Nkala 3 - 0 - 11 - 0, P. Utseya 7.2 - 0 - 28 - 0, S. Williams 4 - 0 - 19 - 0, K. Dabengwa 1 - 0 - 11 - 0
Result: Bangladesh won by 8 wickets
