Bangladesh had to dig deep to eke out a five-run slender victory in their fourth of the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. 

It required two national team returnees -- star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and ace left-arm paceman Mustafizur Rahman -- to chip in with crucial wickets to help Bangladesh defend a 144-run target in front of a packed crowd in Mirpur. 

Defending 14 off the final over, Shakib, who returned to national colours after opting to sit out the first three T20Is, had Blessing Muzarabani stumped before having Richard Ngarava bowled in the very next delivery to bundle out Zimbabwe for 138 in 19.4 overs to see the Tigers take a 4-0 in the series. 

Bangladesh fans, however, had their hearts in their mouths when Muzarabani charged down the ground and smoked a tossed-up delivery from Shakib for a maximum in the third delivery of the final over. Shakib, as he so often is, remained calm and collected and cleaned out the Zimbabwe tail in the following two deliveries. 

With Ryan Burl and Johnathan Campbell out in the middle, the visitors were threatening to take the game away and register their first win in the series. However, it was Mustafizur, who recently had an impressive campaign in the ongoing Indian Premier League for Chennai Super Kings, who brought Bangladesh into the game by removing Burl (19 off 20) and Luke Jongwe (one off two) in the 15th over to end a 35-run stand and reduce Zimbabwe to 94 for six.

Mustafizur then removed Faraz Akram in the penultimate over, finishing with figures of three for 19 in his four overs, claiming the player-of-the-match award for his efforts.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh suffered a batting meltdown despite a good start. Tanzid Tamim and Soumya Sarkar, who replaced out-of-form Liton Das, stitched a 101-run opening stand but the Tigers went on to lose their last nine wickets for just 42 runs to end up with a mediocre score.

Tamim smashed a 37-ball 52 and stood out with the bat in hand for the Tigers.