Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: 3rd ODI Preview: ‘Zimbabwe fight for pride’
Bangladesh vs Zimbabwe: 3rd ODI Preview: ‘Zimbabwe fight for pride’: With the series in the basket of Bangladesh, this might seem like a dead rubber but still, there’s a lot to play for. Firstly, this is the last official match before the T20 series consisting of two matches begin and Zimbabwe will look to win it as it’ll act as a booster before the T20 matches which they’ll try to win. Bangladesh who look like a strong unit now with a lot of victories to their belt would aim to wrap up the series with a win and ensure the morality of the team stays strong before the upcoming series.
Just one year back, it was a different ball game altogether. Bangladesh were struggling as a unit and they first came strong against Zimbabwe when they defeated them 5-0 and Zimbabwe had the likes of Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, but their overdependence on them lost the series for them. Even now their overdependence on their all-rounder captain Elton Chigumbura is not getting their best skills out. Compared to Bangladesh, even though they didn’t have the services of their all-rounder Shakib and Soumya Sarkar out due to an injury, they still managed to come strong and win the series.
Let’s look into how the teams are faring before the last match of the series in the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh might be losing the all important toss, but they strive to win in all other departments of the game. The form of the ‘comeback man’ Imrul Kayes is great to see for a Bangladeshi fan. He scored 76 of just 89 balls which included six fours and four massive sixes in it. Owing to the injury of Soumya Sarkar and unavailability of Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes got his chance in the playing XI, he capitalized it and won the ‘man of the match’. Nasir Hossain and Sabbir Rahman gave a good stand in the end and have strengthened the lower middle order for Bangladesh. With Mustafizur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza leading the bowling pack complemented by fellow bowlers like Sunny, Al-Amin Hossain and Nasir Hossain, they look like an unstoppable force, hungry for wickets.
The only area of concern again is Litton Das who except for a run-out, didn’t play to his potential and got out unnecessarily in the start of the innings. Hopefully, he’ll be able to deliver in the upcoming match.
It’s not just one or two individual heroics that Bangladesh credit their wins too but to for the entire unit which play strong and are developing into a complete team. They’ll be looking for huge victory and become a huge reckoning force in the field of cricket.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe have a lot of issues to deal with, mainly in their batting and fielding departments before they arrive to win in the final ODI. Zimbabwean skipper Chigumbura on the 2nd ODI loss said, “I think it was a chase able score, we lost the first three wickets inside the first ten overs. However, we consolidated well but unfortunately that run out before my partnership with Raza was important. The batsmen including myself gave it away.” For once their bowling came strong as they didn’t allow the Bangladesh batsmen to settle and took wickets at regular intervals. With Panyangara taking crucial wickets and Cremer and Muzurabani complementing him with wickets on the other side, the bowling has clicked after a long time. If they follow the same tactics, they can reduce Bangladesh to a lesser score than this in the next ODI.
In the batting department, the captain sent in a different opening pair with Chibhabha and Chakabva starting the innings for them but both of them were back in the pavilion with 23 on the board. If they don’t give a strong platform for other batsmen to follow, all scores will become a tough ask for the batsmen. Chigumbura and Raza look like they’re playing well but just them playing can’t change the equation in the favour of their side. The best thing would be to allow Jongwe again to open with Chibhabha and allow them to establish a partnership. So the Zimbabweans must huddle up and decide what’s the best they can do to win the match, at least offer some competition to the hosts and not just throwing it away.
Pitch
The Pitch in the 2nd ODI was slightly different than that of the 1st ODI as it offered a lot of turn and bounce and the hosts might rely on the spinners to do the job for them. The Africans also bowled really well on this pitch as it is a faster pitch than the usual sub-continent pitch.
Stats
387- Number of runs in ODIs scored by Elton Chigumbura in this stadium.
13- Number of ODI matches won by Bangladesh against Zimbabwe in the Sher e Bangla Stadium.
119 – The third best 5th wicket partnership in this stadium scored by Mushfiqur Rahim and Sabbir Rahman.
190 – The number of matches played by Elton Chigumbura, the most experienced player in the squad.
Squads:
Bangladesh squad: Mashrafe Mortaza(capt), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Mahmudullah, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Jubair Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Kamrul Islam Rabb, Anamul Haque
Zimbabwe squad: Elton Chigumbura (captain), Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva, Chamu Chibhabha, Tendai Chisoro, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Luke Jongwe, Neville Madziva, Wellington Masakadza, Richmond Mutumbami, Taurai Muzarabani, John Nyumbu, Tinashe Panyangara, Malcolm Waller, Sean Williams
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