The third and final game of the ODI series between Bangladesh and India will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram on Saturday. Bangladesh have already sealed the series as they lead it by a 2-0 margin.
Bangladesh extended its domination at home by claiming another series. After beating India in the first ODI, they carried forward the winning momentum and came out on top in the second ODI. It was a nail-biting contest and the hosts did manage to hold their nerves to finish on the winning side.
Batting first, Bangladesh were reeling at 69/6 but a brilliant partnership between Mahmudullah (77) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (100*) helped them post 271 on the board. The Indian bowlers picked up seven wickets in total, with Washington Sundar finishing with three.
In reply, Shreyas Iyer (82), Axar Patel (56) and Rohit Sharma (51*) scored fifties but it wasn’t enough as they fell agonizingly short of the target by five runs. Ebadot Hossain continued his rich form with the ball and bowled beautifully to finish with figures of 3/45 in his 10 overs. Other bowlers also chipped in to complete a close-fought win over the mighty Indians.
The action now shifts to Chattogram. With the series already in the bag, the hosts will be riding with confidence and will be looking to clean-sweep the series. The Indian side has failed to seize crunch moments in the series so far and will have to be at their absolute best to avoid a whitewash.
It is a no-brainer that Shreyas Iyer will once again need to anchor the Indian innings in the middle-order. Notably, Iyer is this year’s highest run-getter in One Day Internationals having scored 721 runs and the Mumbai cricketer must live up to that reputation in the third game. Shreyas had scored 82 runs in the previous fixture.
The pitch at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium is a balanced track. The new ball comes nicely onto the bat. The spinners will come into play in the later stages of the game. The batters will have to spend some time in the middle before they can start playing their strokes freely.