 Not too long ago, the Bangladesh captain Shakib al hasan had proclaimed
before the start of their tour of Zimbabwe that they would go into the
series as favourites, both in the one off Test match and the five match ODI series.
now, they have lost the Test match and in the two ODIs played, their poor batting
has allowed Zimbabwe to run away with the game.
Click for Live Score Card of Zimbabwe Vs Bangladesh
So when the two teams, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh meet in the third ODI of the series,
Zimbabwe will be going in it ahead by two games to nothing, with a win here at
Harare, making it a series win in the ODIs as well.
Of course, one gets the feeling that a lit could depend on how the toss goes.
The reason for that is simple, the tourists are simply struggling to make things
count with the early morning start, where the ball is swinging around and the
likes of Brian Vitori have been able to make it talk much more.
Vitori's bowling has been remarkable. He has played in two ODIs in his career
and has begun with two five-wicket hauls which will make it difficult for the
Bangladeshi side once again if they bat first. In short, Bangladesh will need
to desperately hope that they win the toss and then, there will be no doubt that
they will want to field first.
In case that is the situation, it will be interesting to see whether the Zimbabweans
will be able to bat the side out of the game. They have been able to dish out
the difficult stuff in case of the conditions favouring them but that will also
mean that they will need to bat much better in case they bat first in difficult,
swinging conditions against a reasonable pace bowling attack.
Bangladesh will need to bat much better than they have in the series and for
that to happen they will need their opening batsmen to come good. A lot has
been spoken about Tamim Iqbal but he has clearly been found wanting in
the series so far. He will be the one player the side will look up to apart
from Shakib al Hasan as the team looks to emulate the likes of Vusi Sibanda and Hamilton Masakadza.
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