Powered by a fifty on debut from young opener Tanzid Tamim, Bangladesh romped to an eight-wicket victory against Zimbabwe in the rain-interrupted first of the five-match T20I series at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday.

Chasing a mediocre 125-run target, Bangladesh cruised over the line in 15.2 overs -- thanks to an unbeaten 67 off 47 deliveries from Tamim and the butterfingered Zimbabwe players who had dropped the left-hander on three occasions.  

Tamim, on three, was dropped twice in the first over after resumption following the second rain-break and was once again provided life after reaching his maiden fifty in the format. The left-hander, however, had found groove, smashing a total of eight boundaries and two maximums. He became only the second Bangladeshi after Junaid Siddique to score a fifty on T20I debut. Siddique had made 71 on his debut against Pakistan in 2007. 

Following the early dismissal of Liton Das, who extended his lean patch in the white-ball formats with a three-ball one, Tamim starred in a 52-run stand with skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto and another 69-run third-wicket stand with Towhid Hriody. Hridoy remained unbeaten on 33 off 18 deliveries, smashing five fours and a six.

Earlier, Bangladesh had reduced Zimbabwe to 41 for seven inside eight overs before a 75-run eight-wicket stand between Clive Madande and Wellington Masakadza helped Zimbabwe evade humiliation to post 125 all out in 20 overs. The stand between Madande (43 off 39) and Maskadza (34 off 38) remains the second-highest overall for the wicket in T20Is and the highest for Zimbabwe in the format.

For Bangladesh, all-rounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who made a return to national colours after over 18 months, and pacer Taskin Ahmed took three wickets each. Saifuddin returned figures of three for 15 in four overs while Taskin gave away 14 in his four-over spell.