Bangladesh are keen to maintain their supremacy against Zimbabwe in the three-match ODI series, starting on Friday at Harare Sports Club despite suffering their first ever T20 International series loss to the same opponent last week. The match which begins at 1.15 PM (Bangladesh Time) will be aired live on T Sport Channel.
Even though T20 is not their favourite format, Bangladesh are expected to win the series but found them losing the series by 2-1. By doing so Zimbabwe not only registered their first ever series victory against Bangladesh, but also it was their maiden series victory against a Test nation in this format.
But ODI is a format, in which Bangladesh are a top team in the world at the moment. Since the 2019 World Cup, they played nine bilateral series and won seven. The two defeats came at hands of Sri Lanka in 2019 and New Zealand in 2021. After the defeat against New Zealand, they won five straight series, beating the likes of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, South Africa and West Indies.
So their ODI strength is understandable. A Bangladesh's series defeat to Zimbabwe will be a huge upset given the fact that the Tigers didn't loss any series to Zimbabwe since 2013 when the African opponent bagged the series by 2-1 at their home.
Since then Bangladesh played five series and two matches in a Tri-nation series against the Zimbabwe and won all of them which extended their winning streak to 19. So when Bangladesh will play the first match of the three-match series tomorrow, they will eye to extend it to 20.
Overall Bangladesh won 50 and lost 28 in the 78 matches between the two sides.
But can ZImbabwe snap Bangladesh's winning streak emboldened by their T20 victory? The question will definitely haunt the Bangladeshi fans. Zimbabwe this time looked more compact and more determined than any other time. Nevertheless, Bangladesh definitely will be keen to take the revenge of their T20 series loss.
Team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon lashed out at the players, terming the T20 series loss as a disgrace. He went on to saying that the players are trying to protect their place rather than trying to winning the game by taking risk.
"I didn't expect to loss to Zimbabwe. We are a better team than them. I would call it a disgrace," Mahmud said.
"When we needed 10 or 12 runs an over, we were getting six or seven every over, Nobody even tried to hit a six. Everyone was playing for ones and twos. What was that? They batted like trying to protect their place, make enough runs so that they don't loss their place." It's a statement from a top boss of the side, which definitely the players would try to prove wrong. And ODI format should be the best place for them.
