Dhaka – After winning the first game of the three-match ODI series against West Indies in Dhaka, Bangladesh have now given their all attention to sealing the series when they meet the Caribbeans in the second ODI at the home of Bangladesh Cricket — Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium — here on Tuesday.The match will kick off at 1pm which will be telecast live by GTV.Bangladesh almost played a perfect match according to their plan in the series opener on Sunday to beat the tourists by five wickets.
Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza, who is probably playing his last ODI series at home, was adjudged man of the match grabbing three wickets conceding 30 runs for the Tigers. Former national skipper Mushfiqur Rahim hit a fifty to ensure the thumping five-wicket win.
This win brought Bangladesh to a position to seal the series in the second match in Dhaka before the last ODI scheduled for Friday (December 14) at Sylhet International Stadium.
Visiting West Indies were whitewashed in the two-match Test series prior to the ODI series. So, it was expected that they would play explosive cricket in the one-dayers, but they were clueless to provide any moment to cheer for their fans while failing to face Bangladeshi pace bowlers.
Bangladesh played the first match with three pace bowlers, who took seven out of nine West Indians wickets. Mashrafe Mortaza, Mustafizur Rahman took three scalps each while Rubel bagged another one.
The hosts went into the last match with four batsmen who are recognised as openers. Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das and Soumya Sarkar played the match. Despite having a reputation as an opener, Soumya Sarkar played at number six.
The Tigers overlooked Mohammad Mithun who has been responding positively since the Asia Cup. So, his omission came as a surprise keeping the World Cup preparation in mind.
Mithun’s stay out of the team might see another match as Bangladesh are unlikely to make any change to their playing XI on Tuesday.
While Bangladesh are hoping another series win over West Indies, the Caribbean boys are keen to bounce back as Roston Chase said on Sunday after the first match: “No way (of losing the series in the second match). I think we go back to the drawing board, we look at our plans, and we will look at where we fell down in this match and improve on that. I will never say that the series is over. We will come back strong. We know the guys will be up for the challenge.”
In the last One-day International series, Bangladesh outshot the Caribbeans in their home soil in spite of pace bowling threat. The West Indian pacers are yet to flourish in the ongoing series.
Kemar Roach failed to take anything memorable from the first ODI. On the other hand, Oshane Thomas and Keemo Paul took one wicket each but both were expensive. While Oshane Thomas conceded more than 6.8 runs per over, Paul gave away 4.63 runs per over.
If Bangladesh can maintain their golden run in the second One-day International of the series, they will earn the third successive One-day International series victory which will surely boost their confidence ahead of a challenging tour to New Zealand next year.UNB
