Do-or-die match? Not a problem: Turnarounds to draw from
Bangladesh need a win in the third ODI against the Windies to not only clinch the series but also cap off a wonderful year for the Tigers. Bangladesh spinner Mehedi Miraz said that Tigers know they need to improve certain things and remarked that Tigers always do well when they play a do-or-die match.
"We started well yesterday but could not finish everything as we started. Maybe it would have been better if we could put 20 more runs on the board.," said Miraz during an UNICEF event today.
Miraz was still hopeful that Bangladesh can turn things around in the third ODI at Sylhet on December 14. "We are still in the series and the last match is a do-or-die match for us. We tend to play the do-or die matches well," he said.
The spinner obviously has a good reason to feel that way. "If you remember, we had also won the series in West Indies by winning the last match. The next match is a good opportunity for us so we are hoping to comeback strongly.
West Indies themselves had come back strongly after losing the Test series 2-0 and the first ODI by 5 wickets. Tigers can however from their own experience of making comebacks in the past.
In the 2015 World Cup, they overcame a 92-run loss to Sri Lanka to beat England by 15 runs in a scintillating win to make it to the quarterfinals. Then in the same year, they beat mighty South Africa 2-1 in the home series, turning things around after a massive eight-wicket defeat in the first match of the series. They reached the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy semifinals against the odds -- one might say it was a comeback for the ages in any form of cricket -- when Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah Riyad fired back with a record 224-run partnership to make it the semifinals at the expense of the Kiwis and the Aussies.
If the team needed any added incentive to win, they might find one with this possibly being inspirational leader Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's last match at home soil.
"Mashrafe bhai has given the team a lot of service over the years. So, we will try [to win]," said Miraz. "Can't tell if it will be his last match but we want him to play on for many more years," he added. Even if it is not Mashrafe's last ODI at home, it will still be Bangladesh's last ODI at home soil this year. The Tigers ODI captain will surely look to finish the last series of the year on a high after maintaining a winning percentage of 64.71 in ODIs, which is the third-best by any team in 2018.