Will the Tigers batsmen fire?
It may just be a T20 series, but of all the tests that this Bangladesh cricket team have faced this year, the match at Mirpur today may just be the most difficult of them. At the moment, the limited-overs team is in a scenario that they have never been in during the last two series.
Against Pakistan, the win in the first ODI took them all the way through. Against India too, a winning start paved the way for a historic series victory. In the World Cup as well, the wins against Afghanistan and Scotland helped them put up gut-wrenching performances against England and New Zealand.
However, at the moment, Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's men face a different challenge. They lost the last match against India and were thumped in the first T20I against South Africa. The latest challenge for this record-defying team is to figure out if they can shrug off the jitters of a bad start and comeback to draw the series.
The 'draw' factor of course isn't the big factor here. The hosts will be hoping they can snatch a win in a bid to go into the ODIs on a winning note.
And for that to happen, Bangladesh will need their batsmen to fire. Their batsmen were the key reason behind their dominating performance against Pakistan and the good start to the India series. However, things haven't been the same in the last two matches.
The key really is to merely adjust to the slow and low wicket at Mirpur, as opposed to the sporting tracks laid down here in the last two series. The likes of Tamim Iqbal and Soumya Sarkar cannot just throw their bat to every other delivery.
They can perhaps take a lesson or two from Faf du Plessis who had scored a match-winning half-century on Sunday. Oddly enough, the South Africa skipper seemed like the only comfortable batsman on the pitch in the first T20I.
Like the first match, the battle of spin, in all likelihood, will continue. South Africa's bowling line-up did quite well in the last match, however, they may just tinker with it a bit in a bid to provide their youngsters with an opportunity. It won't be a surprise if they plan to include leg-spinner Eddie Leie into their attack. The pitch after all, is likely to be similar to the one that was used on Sunday.
Bangladesh also may think about including their own leg-spinner, Jubair Hossain, into the line-up. Comeback bowler Shohag Gazi went wicket-less in the first match and that might just compel the team management to make the move.
There weren't any official training sessions by either team yesterday. However, a few players did attend the optional sessions. One of them was Mushfiqur Rahim. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who played a key role in holding the middle order together in the Pakistan series, has been going through a lean patch recently.
While he helped the Tigers break his side's rut against Pakistan, the Tigers will hope that he can regain his form for the new challenge ahead.