admin
THE loss in the T20I cricket series will hamper Bangladesh when they take on the hosts Zimbabwe in the first of the three One Day International (ODIs) matches at Harare Sports Club this morning.
It will be a fight worth watching, as the hosts will look to continue their winning momentum and dominance over the visitors. On the other hand, Bangladesh would look to plot the perfect act of revenge in order to take an early lead.
Zimbabwe did the unexpected as they registered a historic series win by defeating Bangladesh by 2-1 in the recently-concluded T20I series. They won the first game and took a lead, but the visitors bounced back stronger to level the series at 1-1. The final game, the series decider, was a thrilling contest. While it looked like Bangladesh were dominating, Zimbabwe’s Ryan Burl changed the game in the course of six balls on Tuesday.
He amassed 34 runs off an over, hitting Nasum Ahmed for five sixes and a four.
While the hosts were hanging by a thread at a point in time, Burl’s knock helped them post a defendable target as they put up 156 runs in total, and went on to win the match by 10 runs after restricting Bangladesh to 146 runs during their chase.
After Bangladesh was defeated by Zimbabwe 1-2 in the Twenty20 International series, the team’s confidence is likely to be down. They were able to tie the series with a strong performance in the second Twenty20 International (T20I), but they were defeated in the last match on Tuesday.
However, it is anticipated that the 50-over format of cricket will provide a distinct challenge to both sides. Bangladesh have been doing very well in one-day international cricket as of late.
They maintained their position at the pinnacle of the World Cup Super League points chart for a considerable amount of time.
Only recently were they dethroned from their top position by Jos Buttler’s England. A recent one-day international series between Bangladesh and West Indies resulted in Bangladesh’s 3-0 victory. Nasum Ahmed, Mehidy Hasan, and Taijul Islam, who make up the spin three, bowled really well.
After taking some time off, Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim have come back to play for the side. During this time, Tamim announced his retirement from Twenty20 cricket after a career spanning more than a decade. Bangladesh would want to make inroads as soon as possible after suffering a loss in the Twenty20 International series (T20Is).
Nevertheless, the Bangladesh unit for the 50-over games is very strong, and they will have a command over the game from the very beginning. The visitors are backed by away series wins against South Africa and West Indies, two of the strong teams in international cricket. They would look to extend their ODI series winning streak by registering their third series win in a row.
Pitch Conditions
The two T20Is that followed the opening game were more favourable for the bowlers, and the players found it difficult to rise to the occasion in the middle overs. Thus, Harare Sports Club’s surface won’t assist the batters. A score of around 250-270 runs can be a defendable target.
Playing Combinations for
Zimbabwe v Bangladesh
Zimbabwe
The hosts are in tremendous form in the white-ball format and will be pumped up after their T20I series win against the opponents.
It would be interesting to see what strategies they put in place in order to defeat Bangladesh. They’ll need to repeat some similar heroics like in the 20-over games, but with more precision and care.
Zimbabwe’s Predicted Playing XI: Regis Chakabva (wk), Craig Ervine (c), Wessley Madhevere, Sikandar Raza, Sean Williams, Brad Evans, Milton Shumba, Ryan Burl, Luke Jongwe, Victor Nyauchi, John Masara.
Bangladesh
The Men in Green will look to display their ODI format class over Zimbabwe as well. The T20I series loss would pinch them hard, but that would also be a motivational factor for them to do better in the ODI series and recover from the loss.
Bangladesh’s Predicted Playing XI: Tamim Iqbal (c), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Anamul Haque (wk), Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan, Nasum Ahmed , Mustafizur Rahman, Shoriful Islam.
Zimbabwe v Bangladesh
Head-to-Head
Played 78: Zimbabwe — 28 Bangladesh – 50 — Crictracker.com
Online Reporter