The Bangladesh side has taken a 2-1 lead over Zimbabwe in the five match series, as the two sides will meet against each other at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium at Chittagong. After winning the first game, the Zimbabweans have lost two successive games to their hosts, and if one may add, rather easily at that and that will be a worrying sign for the tourists.

Zimbabwe's biggest issue has been the loss of their skipper, Prosper Utseya, who had been ruled out of the two games - second and third. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to take field for the fourth game, as his injury seems more severe than usual. The other big problem has been that Tatenda Taibu has also been ruled out of the series, and will create a void in the middle order.

Forster Mutizwa, Taibu's replacement had a bad start in the series when he lasted all of two balls and was dismissed for a duck. Zimbabwe batting is talented though, with the only problem being that they are not consistent enough. Hamilton Masakadza is the captain of the side for now, and played a good hand in making an 84 in the third game, but not too many others are doing a good job in scoring the runs. The batsmen are getting starts but have not been able to covert it into something big enough, which has been the tourists' bane. The likes of Charles Coventry and Stuart Matsikenyeri need to start getting back into their best batting form to be able to overcome the challenge.

The Bangladeshis seem to be coming into their own. Despite captain's Shakib al Hasan's frustration at having collapsed twice in two games, they are doing a good job and that is thanks to the skipper and Tamim Iqbal's couple of good innings. Mohammad Ashraful 63 will mean that his low confidence will be back again, and that could help the Bangladeshis at the top, whereas Raqibul Hasan has twice played helping hands in the series but not gone on to make a big one.

The Bangaldeshi bowling is their best hand. Abdur Razzaq has been excellent in the series in whatever role he has bowled, and has ten wickets in three games. He needs to be deciphered by the Zimbabweans, even at the expense of not scoring runs off him. Shakib continues to apply pressure, and it is only evident that the strategy will continue in the remaining ODIs.

Tag :- Abdur Razzaq   Bangladesh   Hamilton Masakadza   Mohammad Ashraful   Prosper Utseya   Tatenda Taibu   Zimbabwe