 Zimbabwe will take on Bangladesh in the first ODI of the five-match series at
Harare Sports Club in Harare. This is the second game of the tour, after
the first one was a Test match that was won by the home team with consummate ease.
Click for Live Score Card of Zimbabwe Vs Bangladesh
The game will be played at the same venue where the Test match was played and
so the spinners may not get too much assistance again.
Of course, the ODIs will be a different cup of tea altogether, given that Bangladesh
have a better record than their opponents in this format of the game. The two
sides have met each other on three separate occasions in the last couple of
years in this format of the game, and Bangladesh have won all the three series.
Bangladesh would be seething with their Test match loss. They have had enough
time to think about it but the surprising bit is that they have not had a warm-up
game to play after the Test match. This will mean that they could still go into
the series a tad undercooked, much like what their batsmen had looked in the Test
match.
The other issue is that of over-confidence. The side had started off the tour
with the captain saying that they were favourites to win the Test match, and
this was followed by the Bangladeshi opening batsman, Tamim Iqbal saying
some not so nice things about the Zimbabwean bowling. What the side now needs
to do is to get going by backing their words with some deeds.
It will also be absolutely vital that the side can bat better than they had
in the Test match. Overall, they had struggled to get going and that will be
something that they will look to overcome. It was a surprise that the captain
Shakib al hasan batted so lower down the order in the second innings
and one can expect him to go up at the number four position.
Zimbabwe, on the other hand, will look to ensure that they can get going
with the batting as well. Brendan Taylor should open the innings along
with the other centurion of the Test match, Hamilton Masakadza. The rest of
the side should remain the same, apart from the fact that there could be an
inclusion of an extra spinner in Prosper Utseya, who is rather economical and
hence will be an interesting addition to the side.
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