Sikandar Raza hit four sixes and eight fours off 127 balls and his 201-run fifth-wicket partnership with captain Regis Chakabwa helped Bangladesh chase down 290-9 with ease in Harare.
Chakbawa played a wonderful supporting role for Raza, who has been consistently outstanding for his adopted country, scoring 102 off 75 balls including two sixes and 10 fours.
Zimbabwe reached 291-5 after an early loss of wickets with 15 balls to spare and a slow scoring rate suggested they had little chance of success at Harare Sports Club.
Sikandar Raza said, “Since (coach) Dave (Houghton) is back, we have put a lot of emphasis on a lot of good things and it is a very happy feeling to be able to achieve this.”
“I know I am grabbing the (individual) trophy but Reggie (Chakabwa) and Tony (Muyonga) did well. The bowlers also did an amazing job. So, as much as I am, it’s really all of us.
“It’s nice that I’m doing my job, but to get a 100 from me and Reggie, that little cameo from Tony, and Luke (Jongwe) the other day, tells you the depth of the team. I’m so happy for the boys.”
Bangladesh captain Tamim said: “We made a good score. During the first game, we got 20 more runs to score. Today, I thought our batting was good but we didn’t execute our bowling well.
“The wicket was good from the start but when the spinners came, it was not as easy as in the first game. All credit should go to Zimbabwe. They were the better team in this series.”
Zimbabwe also won the first ODI on Friday against opponents ranked eight places higher by five wickets and continued a remarkable transformation under recently-appointed Houghton.
The former national team batting star toured Afghanistan in June after a 3-0 ODI and Twenty20 whitewash with Zimbabwe.
Houghton tells his squad to express themselves, not to be afraid to make mistakes and not to be intimidated by opponents, no matter how strong they appear on paper.
Sunday’s win was the ninth in 10 ODIs and T20Is under Houghton as Zimbabwe prepares for the T20 World Cup in Australia from October.
As on Friday, Zimbabwe won the toss and opted to field, and once again Bangladesh’s batsmen did well under Mahmudullah Riyadh’s unbeaten 80 and Tamim’s 50.
Mahmudullah hit three sixes and three fours in the 126-minute stand, while Iqbal needed just 45 balls to score his half-century, which included one six and 10 fours.
Afif Hossain (41) and Najmul Hossain (38) also made significant contributions against the Zimbabwe attack in which Raza’s spin proved to be the most effective as he took three wickets.
In response, Zimbabwe lost their first wicket with just one run on the board and when they found themselves at 49-4, even the supremely optimistic Houghton could hardly have imagined what was about to happen.
Sikandar Raza and Chakabwa – standing in as series captain for the injured Craig Ervine – took the fight to the Bangladeshi attack and slowly but surely lifted the total and raised hopes of an unexpected victory.
After 40 overs, Zimbabwe were 220-4 and needed 71 runs from 60 balls to win both the match and the series.
Chakabwa’s defeat, caught by Tamim at midwicket after a miss from Mehidy Hasan, did not stop the run lead and ODI debutant Tony Munyonga’s 30 not out helped Zimbabwe win in the last overs.