 Zimbabwe
will take on Bangladesh at Bulawayo in the fourth ODI game of the five
game series against Bangladesh on Friday. Rather surprisingly, it is Bangladesh
who are down and out in the series, having already lost it 0-3, and will now be
playing for pride against a side which had had a shoddy World Cup.
Click for Live Score Card of Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh
The Zimbabweans had a successful comeback to the Test match format of the game,
in which they beat Bangladeshis before following it up with three successive
wins in the ODIs. The quality of the side is good but to be able to actually
translate it into runs and wickets in the way Zimbabwe have done is incredible
and will need the opposition to do something different about it.
What is interesting to see is that the Zimbabweans have done well after the
times that they have not been able to get in touring countries to their countries.
They have shown that with the likes of Brian Vettori and Kyle Malcolm
things are looking good on the bowling front and it is only a matter of time
when the batting also starts to get dangerous.
Zimbabwe will continue to rely on the likes of the pace bowling options, but there
is always an option to play Prosper Utseya along with Ray Price. It will all depend
on the pitch and whether they can get something out of it.
Bangladesh did make a good comeback in the third ODI but they were letdown by
the poor fielding. They dropped five catches and despite Mushfiqur Rahim's superb
century, there wasn't too much by way of support at the other end.
Bangladesh's biggest strength is their spin bowling and they have been taken for
aplenty given the nature of the pitches. Shakib al Hasan has looked undercooked,
while the side had to let go of Abdur Razzaq because of his poor form.
One can expect the track to be filled with green and there cannot be too much
doubt that the side winning the toss will look to field first in the game.
Tatenda Taibu will continue to be the player to watch out for the Zimbabwean batsmen,
while it will be interesting to see if the side will look to recall Ray Price.
Bangladesh will need some batting from Tamim Iqbal, while captain Shakib Al Hasan needs to inspire his side into something dramatic if they have to do something in the remaining two ODIs.
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