The third game of the series between Zimbabwe and Bangladesh will be played at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur on Saturday. The series is tied at one game apiece after Zimbabwe won the first game and Bangladesh won the second with consummate ease.

Zimbabwe had turned on the heat on the Bangladeshis in the first game by first restricting them to a low total and then having Elton Chigumbura smash a 60 to guide them through. However, in the second game, Abdur Razzaq continued to weave a web around the Zimbabweans and took five wickets. And then, chasing a smallish total of 220, Shakib al Hasan tore into their bowling to smash a 69-ball 105, and won them the game with more than 20 overs to spare.

The Zimbabweans will look to the injury to Prosper Utseya and hope that he is fit by Saturday. Not only was his miserly bowling missed in the second game, but his experienced hand at captaincy was lacking as well, as Hamilton Masakadza was made to lead the side. The other issue that the Zimbabweans will need to address is the manner in which they play Razzaq. Already in the two games, Razzaq has captured eight wickets, and despite having bowled reasonably well, one can sense that the wickets have come thanks to Zimbabwean batsmen's mistakes.

The Zimbabwe batting is reasonably strong, and this has been evidence at various times in both the games so far. For one, the likes of Masakadza, Tatenda Taibu and Brendan Taylor have it in them to get the better of the opposition and play a decently innings, but have been a little spendthrift in their stroke play. For now, Taibu has also his injured his foot, and could be a suspect for the next game.

From the Bangladeshi perspective, the second game saw them take back the control that they had lost in the first. Razzaq is obviously in a very good form, and captain al Hasan has been in a good touch as well - both with the bat and the ball. While it does look like Mohammad Ashraful may want to try and get back to his batting form that had been witnessed sparingly this year, the openers may also want to carry forward their starts into something substantial.

All in all, the third ODI could just separate one team from the other and if Bangladesh win this, they may go onto win the remaining games.

Tag :- Abdur Razzaq   Bangladesh   Brendan Taylor   Elton Chigumbura   Hamilton Masakadza   Mohammad Ashraful   Tatenda Taibu   Zimbabwe