With five runs needed off the last delivery, Nurul Hasan was adjudged to have taken the ball in front of the stumps, leading to a no ball; there followed a delay while the players returned, but Mosaddek Hossain held his nerve for Bangladesh
Brisbane: Bangladesh 150-7, Zimbabwe 147-8 - Bangladesh win by three runs
Bangladesh clinched a three-run victory over Zimbabwe in remarkable fashion after a no-ball, caused by wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan taking the final delivery of the match in front of the stumps, gave Blessing Muzarabani a second chance to hit the boundary his country needed for a crucial win.
Twice he swung, twice he missed. Mosaddek Hossain, the off-spinner entrusted with delivering the last over of an enthralling game, held his nerve, with Ryan Burl left stranded at the non-striker's end unbeaten on 27 after Sean Williams' half century had dragged Zimbabwe back into a game that they had looked to be out of.
Chasing 151 to continue an unlikely charge for the semi-finals, their run-chase didn't initially get going. In the powerplay alone, Wessly Madhevere sliced to third man, Craig Ervine edged behind as he attempted to slash at a wide ball, Milton Shumba mishit Mustafizur Rahman to mid-off and Sikandar Raza spliced to square leg. Truly, Bangladesh weren't forced to do very much out of the ordinary.
But Williams was initially well supported by Regis Chakapva and then by Burl in a fine fightback, before Shakib al Hasan brilliantly ran out the veteran left-hander for 64 in the penultimate over, by which time Bangladesh had run out of overs from Mustafizur and player of the match Taskin Ahmed, who is now the leading wicket-taker in the Super 12s.
In a game of such fine margins, though, Zimbabwe only had themselves to blame. They were every bit as poor in the field as they had been excellent against Pakistan in their famous one-run victory earlier in the week. Brad Evans, who was expensive in his three overs, dropped a sitter gifted by Afif Hossain, as did Williams, though he did at least recover to run out Nurul in the process.
Bangladesh were forced to win the game twice after Nurul Hasan's take in front of the stumps was called a no ball by the third umpire (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Their ground-fielding wasn't much better: Muzarabani set the tone, letting one through his legs in the first over of the match, while Tendai Chatara dived over a reverse-sweep at short third man.
Bangladesh's innings was held together by Najmul Hossain Shanto, who passed fifty for the first time in international white-ball cricket to make his highest T20I score. He defied an apparent hamstring strain early on to face 55 balls and guide his country towards a winning score, falling eventually when he clothed Raza to Ervine at mid-off.
Ervine, widely praised for his captaincy against Pakistan, did not have his best day. His strategies in the field were questionable as Muzarabani bowled just two overs, while Williams, Evans and Madhevere shared seven between them.
Muzarabani had given Zimbabwe a fine start, dismissing Soumya Sarkar second ball and Liton Das for 14 with a slower delivery that foxed an attempted ramp shot. Shanto was joined by Shakib, Bangladesh's captain, to rebuild the innings. Together, they shared a 54-run stand until Shakib holed out to fellow left-arm spinner Williams.
Richard Ngarava was excellent at the death, nailing his yorkers and forcing Mosaddek to slice to short third. Little did he know that his major contribution was yet to come. Defending 16 runs in the final over, the game looked all but over once Evans holed out to deep midwicket, but four leg-byes deflected off Ngarava's hip and he somehow swatted the next ball over fine leg for an enormous six not dissimilar to the one struck by Mohammad Nawaz off his bowling on Thursday.
Sean Williams was run out crucially by Shakib al Hasan (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
But with five runs required from two balls, he was stumped by Nurul, who then thought he'd repeated the trick one ball later to dismiss Muzarabani and end the game. Only, with Muzarabani off the field, the stumps out of the ground, the groundstaff on the pitch and the Bangladesh players celebrating on the edge of the outfield, a check by the third umpire ruled that Nurul had taken the ball prematurely, giving Zimbabwe an extra run, an extra ball and a free hit.
Still needing a boundary to change the result, the players returned to rebowl the final ball, and Muzarabani swung hard once more but missed, with Nurul's hands safely behind the stumps this time. The celebrations could begin again.