A century from Liton Das and five wickets from Shakib Al Hasan helped Bangladesh secure a one-sided 155-run victory over Zimbabwe in the first of their three One-Day Internationals at the Harare Sports Club on Friday.
Liton scored 102 as Bangladesh, who were put into bat, recovered from a poor start to post 276-9 off their 50 overs before bowling Zimbabwe out for a paltry 121.
Bangladesh looked in trouble at 74-4 but Das dug them out in a 93-run partnership with Mahmudullah to put them on course for an imposing total on a difficult wicket.
Afif Hossain weighed in with a quickfire 45 off 35 balls while Luke Jongwe took 3-51 for the home team, who earlier this week had lost their one-off test against Bangladesh at the same venue.
Regis Chakabva scored 54 in Zimbabwe’s response but they were unable to put together any meaningful partnerships as a flurry of rash shots cost them key wickets.
Shakib became Bangladesh’s leading ODI wicket-taker as his 5-30 took his tally to 274, surpassing Mashrafe Mortaza.
A hamstring injury suffered in the field by Timycen Maruma also meant Zimbabwe were one batsman short when their innings came to an end in only the 29th over.
The two countries meet again in Harare in their second ODI on Sunday.