Shawdesh Desk:

Bangladesh want to replicate the performance of their first match as they will take on the hosts South Africa for the third and final ODI in a bid to clinch the series for the first time.

The series is now locked at 1-1 after Bangladesh won the first match by 38 runs, which was the first victory on South Africa soil, snapping 19-match losing streak before the hosts bounced back in style to beat the Tigers by seven wickets.

The third ODI which turned out to be a series deciding will be held at SuperSport Park in Centurion tomorrow (Wednesday). The match starts at 5 PM (Bangladesh Time).

Ace allrounder Shakib Al Hasan was initially doubtful to play the third ODI due to a number of his family members including his two out of three children currently going through various health complications.

He was supposed to return to the country but decided to stay back and play the crucial third ODI. His dedication is further testament of how motivated and desperate the Bangladesh team members are to win the series.

Shakib was instrumental in the historic victory in first match in Centurion, striking a tremendous 64 ball-77 runs knock.

The visitors will be back in Centurion again for the series deciding match and it is another source of motivation for them. They got the Centurion pitch particularly to their likings as the bounce was even but Wanderers pitch in second ODI offered uneven bounce, according to Bangladesh skipper Tamim Iqbal.

Although, Tamim clearly expressed his disappointment over the pitch, at the same time admitted they played poorly to dig their own graveyards. Rabada whose menacing bowling fetched him 5-39, for his only second five-for in ODI cricket, sliced Bangladesh top order to reduce them to 34-5. Bangladesh still could end up with 194-9 thanks to Afif Hossain, who scored a fighting 72 and shared two important partnerships with Mahmudullah Riyad (25) and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (25) to drive the side.

“I thought 240-250 would have been a good total. The wicket was turning from one end, from where [Mehidy Hasan] Miraz and [Tabraiz] Shamsi bowled most of their overs. I thought [Yasir] Rabbi’s wicket was costly as it would have been the last ball of Rabada’s [first] spell. He bowled another over,” Tamim said.

“If we could have taken our innings a bit deeper with that [Yasir-Mushfiqur] partnership, we could have made 240-250. The way Afif [Hossain] and Miraz batted, it showed there was room to score plenty of runs against their bowling in the middle overs. We knew that they would come hard at us with the new ball. We did it very well in the first match by not giving away anything. That’s why we capitalised in the middle overs. Today, the situation was different: we lost too many wickets up front. There weren’t enough batsmen to capitalise in the middle.”

Since the series deciding match will be held in Centurion, Tamim still hopes for the best as he refused to give up the hopes of making the ODI series a memorable one on South African soil.

Despite the defeat in the second game, Bangladesh are unlikely to bring any change to the squad and if so, they will play six straight matches with same squad.

The two teams played 24 matches so far in ODI format with South Africa winning 18. Bangladesh won just five matches and one match was washed out. Squad

Bangladesh: Tamim Iqbal (Captain), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Mehidy Hassan Miraz, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Ebadot Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Yasir Ali Chowdhury, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Syed Khaled Ahmed.

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Keshav Maharaj (vice-capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Zubayr Hamza, Marco Jansen, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne