A new-look Bangladesh team, oozing with confidence, will be looking to register their 19th series win and 14th at home, when they face India on Sunday in the second and penultimate ODI at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The Tigers are in the form of their lives in the 50-over format, having posted nine consecutive ODI wins at home with the latest coming against India in the first match last Thursday. The visitors, in contrast, led by MS Dhoni, will be under tremendous pressure to save the series on Sunday game.
Bangladesh ODI captain Mashrafe bin Mortaza will head into the game with the same team combination, including the inclusion of four seamers. India, expecting a barrage of spin from the home side, capitulated in the first ODI as the Tigers' pace-bowling quartet accounted for eight of the 10 wickets to fall.
Youngsters Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed have been a revelation for the Tigers in recent times and the duo will once again be expected to lead from the front in the match. Fellow pacemen Mashrafe and Rubel Hossain will provide valuable support alongside the dependable left-arm spin of ace all-rounder Shakib al Hasan.
Bangladesh openers Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar, who smashed impressive half-centuries but failed to convert them into big scores in the first ODI, will be targeting yet another good start while the likes of Nasir Hossain and Sabbir Rahman will shore up the batting department in the latter stages of the innings.
The Tigers' best batsman, Mushfiqur Rahim, however, is yet to find his rhythm in the ongoing bilateral home series. The diminutive wicket-keeper, who came into the series on the back of fine performances in the Pakistan series, was dismissed for 14 last Thursday so he will no doubt eye a significant score in the match.
On the other hand, Dhoni will have to figure out a different game-plan after failing big time in the first ODI. With the exception of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, all the Indian bowlers were bite-less in the face of some attacking batting by the home side, who totalled 300 against them for the very first time in ODIs.
The tourists will be looking to one-drop Virat Kohli to lead their batting charge. The dashing right-hander has been going through a lean patch recently after being dismissed for just one and three in his previous two ODIs against Bangladesh. And despite a solid start laid by openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, India's formidable middle-order was unable to capitalise as they stuttered their way to 128/5 from 95 without loss.
All in all, Mashrafe and Co. have the golden opportunity on Sunday to seal the series and establish themselves as the new powerhouse of the sub-continent. The Tigers' new era began last November when they whitewashed Zimbabwe. It continued in the 2015 ICC World Cup down under where the Tigers reached the quarter-final for the very first time in their history. A transitional Pakistan side then bore the brunt of the Tigers' force as the former were swept aside in the three-match ODI series. So Mashrafe and his troop will be eager to maintain their dominance in the match and stretch their unbeaten ODI home run to 10.
The day-night affair will begin at 3pm and Gazi TV, Star Sports 1 and 3 will transmit the game live.