Will Tigers roar in their preferred format?

Bangladesh suffered humiliating defeats in both the Test and T20I series against the West Indies during their ongoing tour of the Caribbean but they can take plenty of inspiration from their ODI record books when they take on the home side in the first match of the three-match series at the Providence Stadium in Guyana tonight.

The game is scheduled to kick off at BST 7:30pm and will be telecasted live on T Sports.

There has been a lot of talk about the Tigers' shortcomings in the Tests and T20I formats but there hardly anyone can argue with the fact that Bangladesh know what it takes to win a ODI match much better than the other two formats.

While it is true that West Indies have grown in confidence through their performances in the latest Test and ODI series, however, they are likely to face a different Bangladesh in the ODI series as the stats point in favour of the visitors.

WILL STATS LIE THIS TIME? 

The most encouraging fact for Bangladesh is that the West Indies side lost their last eight ODIs against Bangladesh since they won their last match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur in December, 2018.

And when considering the case of the Providence Stadium, Bangladesh lost and won one here against the Caribbeans and the current Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal can derive inspiration as his 130-run knock alongside Mashrafe Bin Mortaza's four-fer powered the Tigers to a comfortable48-run win. Tamim also went on to hit 103 in the third match of the series in St Kitts to win the match and seal the series 2-1 for his side. Bangladesh also possess a really sweet memory at this venue, having convincingly beaten South Africa by 67 runs in the 2007 World Cup.  

The overall stats speak in favour of the Tigers as well since they started to turn the table against the West Indies with the 3-0 ODI series victory against a weakened home side in 2009.

HEAD-TO-HEAD RESULTS Total ODI played: 41 Bangladesh won: 18 West Indies won: 21 In the West Indies: Bangladesh won 5, West Indies 8. In Bangladesh: Bangladesh 9, West Indies 10.

RECENT ODI RECORD IS THE BIGGEST SOURCE OF OPTIMISM

Considering the current form, Bangladesh have been brilliant in the 50-over format in recent times, having beaten the mighty South Africans at their home ground by 2-1 in March this year after edging past Afghanistan 2-1 in the ODI series at home in February 2022.
On the other hand, West Indies had it easy with a 3-0 ODI series win against the Netherlands earlier in June but they followed it up with a 3-0 loss in a bilateral ODI series against Pakistan in Pakistan.

Now, with all those impressive stats under their belt, can the Tigers take their game to the next level in their preferred format in the ODI series and stamp their authority for the first time this tour?