Also read: Poor outfield in Paarl ahead of second ODI
Bangladesh had an optional practice session Tuesday with six players in the afternoon. Opener Tamim Iqbal, wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, batsman Mominul Haque, opening batsman Soumya Sarkar and all-rounders Mehedi Hasan Miraz and Saifuddin took part in the training session. The weather is a concern ahead of the second ODI as it has been raining in Paarl in the last few days. But the venue is below-par due to wet outfield and in maximum places in the boundary rope, there are black spots with no grass whatsoever.
Also read: Players believe they can turn it around, says Tamim
Tamim missed the first ODI at De Beers Diamond Oval in Kimberley as the team management did not want to take any risk with him. His inclusion in the second ODI playing XI will be decided in the final hour before the match courtesy a fitness test. Mushfiq, who scored a brilliant century in the first ODI, is also nursing a hamstring injury as he was not seen in the field during South Africa’s innings in the first ODI. But according to a team source, the batsman is on his way to full fitness before the second ODI. Both Tamim and Mushfiq batted in the indoor nets of Boland Park Tuesday. Bangladesh had a poor Test series as they lost both the matches by huge margins. In the first ODI, the performance was poor as well as South Africa won by world record margin. Team confidence is low at the moment but Tamim believes Bangladesh have the ability to turn around and players are working hard to bounce back in the Paarl ODI. “We are not playing great cricket and we know it. It would have been a complete batting performance had we scored 300-plus. We weren’t upto the mark with our bowling, especially in these conditions against this opposition. We couldn’t take early wickets which hurt us, but we will try to do this in the next game,” Tamim said to the media Tuesday.
The Proteas are flying at the moment as their key players are in good form. They dominated almost every session against the visiting Bangladesh in this series. But Proteas head coach Ottis Gibson said they are taking Wednesday's game seriously as Bangladesh are a quality side and can turn around anytime if given any window of opportunity. “[Wednesday's] game is important. The series is still alive. We will play with our full strength. If we win [Wednesday] then we might change our playing XI in the third match. But for [Wednesday] we will place our best team,” said Gibson..@wiaan_m shared some sage advice that he received from @AidzMarkram recently. #ProteaFire #SAvBAN pic.twitter.com/LNp8svUi55
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) October 17, 2017