Sports Desk:

Confident-looking Bangladesh will take on India in the second game of the three-match T20I series in Rajkot Thursday with the aim of making a history in the short-format cricket.

The exciting match will begin at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium at 7:30pm (Bangladesh Time).

If Bangladesh can beat India in the match to take an unassailable lead, they will be the first overseas team in the history to win a T20I series against India on the Indian soil.

Bangladesh didn’t appear to be weighed down by the history or expectation rather they are looking to take it as just another game despite gaining the momentum by thrashing India in the first match by seven wickets.

Overcoming all the adversities, Bangladesh snapped their eight-match T20 losing streak against India but what gave them the confidence that they put up a clinical performance in the first match While the senior like Mushfiqur Rahim drove the side home, he was ably assisted by the young brigades like Mohammad Naim, Afif Hossain and Aminul Islam Biplob.

Soumya Sarkar had also a significant contribution, much to the delight of the Tigers fans.

All those things, however, made them so much confident ahead of the second game that Bangladesh just wasn’t willing to give anything a thought, apart from a victory.

“This is our best chance to win the series,” Bangladesh captain Mahmudullah Riyad told a pre-match conference on Wednesday.

“The boys have stood firm in the first match and won it in a convincing fashion. If we can replicate that performance, I hope we can win it.”

That India have never lost a three-match bilateral T20I series at home and if they are to protect that record, the ‘Men in Blue’ will have to come up with a much-improved performance in Rajkot.

India skipper Rohit Sharma, who leads the side in the absence of Virat Kohli, is all set to play his 100th T20I match and will become the second player after Shoaib Malik to appear in 100 matches in this short format.

Rohit Sharma is very keen not only to make it memorable but also keep the series alive.

“The batsmen need to take the onus. Hopefully, we can bounce back in the series,” he said.

Mahmudullah said there is no reason Bangladesh would bring up any change to the squad after such a victory unless anyone gets injured at the eleventh hour or they find it imperative to make the change.

He also said that there is no pressure whatsoever on them.

“When we are in the dressing room or the field, it doesn’t affect us. There is a different kind of pressure and we are only concerned with that. Things outside the field don’t affect us,’’ he added.

Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo differed with this when asked that the Rajkot ground is predicted to offer a high scoring affair as he feels 170 will be a par score.

“I think the ground is quite big so I feel that 170 will be a par score,’’ Domingo said.

Meanwhile, severe cyclonic storm ‘Maha’ may not hit the Gujarat coast and is likely to fizzle out into the Arabian Sea as a ‘depression’ by today evening, the Met office said on Wednesday.

It would come as a big relief to the common people and administration if the latest prediction turns true.

At present, ‘Maha’ is still a ‘severe cyclonic storm’ hovering over the east-central Arabian sea, and is located around 400kms away from coastal Porbandar in Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

“It (the cyclone) is very likely to move nearly eastwards, weaken into a cyclonic storm by Wednesday evening. Thereafter, it is likely to move east-northeastwards, weaken further into a deep depression by the early morning of November 7,” the India Meteorological Department said.

Rain started in Rajkot on Wednesday night and became heavy till the filing of this report.