In Bangladesh, known for its rain and rivers, a series whitewash has acquired a popular coinage — ‘Banglawash’.
On the eve of the third and final One-Day International between India and Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium here, the prevalent question was, “Can India, trailing 2-0 in the series, avoid a Banglawash?”
The host, which has played extraordinarily well to outclass a higher-ranked side in the last two ODIs, expects to repeat its feat of a 3-0 clean sweep against Pakistan last April.
In an anti-climactic end to its pre-tour expectation, India may actually have nothing to lose! All it is left with is restoring some pride and confidence by winning the final ODI, though rain threatens to impact the contest.
The riddle for India is how to stop the Tigers on the prowl. The sensational performance of rookie left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who has claimed 11 wickets in the first two matches of his career, has been the biggest worry for the visitors. They are have been rudely rattled while looking for answers to the teenager’s might.
Will Binny play?M.S. Dhoni has already fielded 14 of the 15 players at his disposal and it will be interesting to see whether he selects the remaining member, all-rounder Stuart Binny, who had achieved his career best figures of six for four at the same venue last year, for the final encounter. Binny, who has been in the team as the only genuine all-rounder in the country, has been reduced to a spectator thus far.
Apart from executing its plans well and limiting the damage against Mustafizur to the minimum, India will do well to take a leaf out of Bangladesh’s book and maintain some high intensity throughout the 50-over contest.
Bowling in the right areas to keep the aggressive Bangladeshi top-order batsmen quiet will be the primary task of the pacers before the spinners come into the picture. Only Dhoni knows what combination — three seamers or three spinners — will win his confidence.
The bright spot in the Indian attack has been off-spinner R. Ashwin’s form. But his lone effort has not borne the desired fruit due to lack of support from other bowlers. He toils and helps the attack acquire some ability to strike when in distress.
Individual efficiencyBarring a few instances of individual efficiency from Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan or Dhoni, the collective failure of the Indian batsmen has been baffling. The team has failed to put up partnerships and has suffered miserably because of this.
The Indian players, who confined themselves to their hotel rooms for the last two days before emerging for Tuesday’s practice session, will have to start afresh in order to close the series on a positive note.
Life has taken a new turn for many a Bangladeshi cricketer after the team’s stupendous success in the series. The team’s preparations and plans have stood it in good stead and hardly anything has gone wrong for the side so far.
Under the command of its captain and seasoned seamer Mashrafe Mortaza, the host has also benefitted from the all-round showing of Nasir Hossain, the finishing skills of Shabbir Rahaman, the brilliant batting of Soumya Sarkar and Litton Das and the timely contribution of pacer Rubel Hossain.
Revolving around Mustafizur’s phenomenal display, the concerted effort of the Tigers in all three departments of the game has been superlative. Bangladesh will love to carry on its flamboyance in order to earn a perfect finish to the defining series in the history of its cricketing journey.
The teams (from):
India: M.S. Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny and Dhawal Kulkarni.
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Shabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Mustafizur Rahman, Litton Das and Zubaer Hossain.
Umpires: Rodney Tucker and Enamul H. Moni.
Match starts at 2.30 p.m. IST
