Bangladesh batsman Nasir Hossain (L) and Mahmudullah (R) celebrate after winning their Twenty20 triangular series match against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club Ground on Thursday. — AFP photo

Bangladesh ended their losing streak and kept their hopes alive of reaching the final of the Triangular Twenty20 tournament when they handed Zimbabwe a six-wicket defeat in Harare on Thursday.
Nasir Hossain (41 from 31 balls) remained unbeaten to confirm their win while vice-captain Mahmudullah (25 not out from 13 balls) atoned for his sluggish batting that cost his team the first game.
Bangladesh reached 153-4 in 17.3 overs after they restricted Zimbabwe to a modest total of 149-8. Bangladesh still need to beat South Africa in their last game today to give themselves a chance of featuring in the final.
Mohammad Ashraful struck four fours on his way to a quickfire 19 from 10 balls to give the Tigers a positive start before he was bowled while trying to scoop pacer Kyle Jarvis.
Anamul Haque came in at number three and made a mess of his second opportunity for the Tigers during his brief stay. Jarvis dropped Anamul off his own bowling two balls before the batsman
ran his partner Tamim Iqbal out.
Tamim (13 off 11 balls), who returned to the side for Jahirul Islam after missing out on the second game, played to the covers and a misunderstanding resulted in his run-out.
Anamul then lost his wicket when he was caught behind for 11 off 16 balls as the Tigers nearly made a mess having been reduced to 53-3. 
Mushfiqur Rahim (31 from 23 balls) and Nasir Hossain concentrated on rebuilding the innings as they kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and twos while boundaries seemed scarce.  
The duo steadied the ship with a 47-run stand and just when things were under control, Mushfiq literally threw his wicket attempting a second run which was never there. A direct hit from Vusi Sibanda ran the skipper out putting the Tigers back in trouble.
Bangladesh needed 45 runs off the last six overs and the equation was made to look easy when Mahmudullah and Nasir clobbered six fours and a six to add 54 runs from just 25 balls.    
Earlier, with support from the fielders, which was missing in the previous matches, the Bangladesh bowlers tied the hosts to within 150-mark.
Hamilton Masakadza continued his brilliant run with the bat as he once again laid the foundation for the hosts with a 54-ball 56.
The bowlers had a reasonable economy-rate except Ziaur Rahman, who went for 18 in his only over to Zimbabwe captain Brendon Taylor.
However, Zia managed to get Taylor out in the last ball of the over that ended the free flowing scoring rate of the hosts.
Mashrafee bin Murtaza claimed two wickets while Abul Hasan, Elias Sunny and Mahmudullah grabbed a wicket each.