Bangladesh vowed to stay alive in the series, bringing out their best in all departments as they take on Zimbabwe in the second ODI Sunday at Harare Sports Club.
The match starts at 1:15pm Bangladesh Time and will be aired live on T Sports.
Bangladesh lost the first match by five wickets, which ended their 19-game winning streak against the African nation.
After beating Bangladesh for the first time since 2013, Zimbabwe now lead the three-match series 1-0.
The defeat was particularly shocking for the Tigers given the fact that they posted 303/2.
Zimbabwe rode on sublime centuries from Sikandar Raza and Innocent Kaia to gun down the target with 10 balls to spare.
Raza who ensured the victory with a powerful six over deep midwicket was not out on 109 ball-135 while Kaia, who scored his maiden century, was dismissed on 110.
While the general sentiment is that Bangladesh top-order, especially skipper Tamim Iqbal batted too slowly in this benign pitch, the captain himself blamed the fielders for putting down some crucial chances.
The fans also lashed out at Mushfiqur Rahim who, despite scoring an unbeaten 52, failed to push the scoreboard towards the end as Bangladesh made just 39 runs in the last five overs with seven wickets in hand.
The situation was further worsened for Bangladesh due to the injury of Liton Das who struck 81 off 89 before retiring hurt.
In-form Liton however, was ruled out of competitive action for at least three weeks.
“We knew the first 10 overs you probably have to bat like a Test match where you try and survive,” Tamim explained about his slow batting in the first powerplay.
“And because after 10th over wicket got really, really good and as you see, tremendous partnership. And we have been doing this (dropping catches) for a long time now regularly. Earlier I told that dropping catches will cost us some day and the first match was the day it happened.”
The southpaw went on to plead with his teammates not to drop catches in the second game as they bid to level the series.
A defeat would ensure Bangladesh’s first ever series loss to Zimbabwe after 2013.
Zimbabwe earlier won the three-match T20I series by 2-1, which was not only their first ever bilateral series victory over Bangladesh but also their maiden series win against a Test nation in this format.
And the victory against Bangladesh after 2013 further motivated them to win the ODI series.
“Obviously it's really good to get a first win like that. But I think you know whole credit to Raza and Kaia, the way they went about after we lost a few early wickets. It was really important for them to kick on the way they did and you know, we couldn't have asked for anything better,” Zimbabwe’s stand-in captain Regis Chakabva said.
Bangladesh, who have won 50 and lost 29 in 79 matches against Zimbabwe, would have to make at least two changes from the first game as Liton and Shariful Islam won’t be available.
Pacer Ebadat Hossain and opener Mohammad Naim have been added to the ODI squad and the duo will join the side before the second match.
