BRISBANE, Oct 30, 2022 (BSS)—Opener Najmul Hossain Shanto finally paid off the faith put on him, hitting his maiden half-century as Bangladesh racked up against Zimbabwe in their third game of the T20 World Cup at the Gabba here today.

Shanto indeed lived up to the expectation on a day when it mattered most. As the game turned out to be almost a must win game for Bangladesh, he kept the side in the hunt despite an early setback.

He finally was dismissed on 71 off 55, striking seven fours and one six.

After deciding to bat first, Bangladesh lost opener Soumya Sarkar for duck after he poked a delivery of fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani towards cover.

Liton Das got a start with a flurry of boundaries but again failed to convert it to a big knock. Muzarabani was the bowler again to dismiss him for 14.

Shanto and captain Shakib Al Hasan then looked to bail the side out of danger as Bangladesh slowly but smoothly went towards safety.

However the introduction of Sean Williams helped Zimbabwe get a crucial breakthrough as he removed Shakib for 23, ending a 54-run partnership between him and Shanto.

Shanto brought up his fifty off 45 balls, which was bit slower but looked to make up as he went on berserk. But he couldn’t continue it for long as Sikandar Raza got rid of him.

Bangladesh as usually failed to capitalize the advantage of powerplay despite a plenty of wickets at hands. In the last five overs, they were able to score just 47 for four wickets with Shanto alone taking 16 runs in the 16th over.

However Afif Hossain’s 19 ball-29 helped them reach 150-run mark, which still looked not a good total in this surface.