Bangladesh Vs Zimbabwe Live, 2nd ODI

Bangladesh would look to level the series when they face Zimbabwe in the second One Day International at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. Zimbabwe won the first ODI that took place on Wednesday at the same stadium, by nine runs and lead the five match series 1-0. It was a low scoring game but the Zimbabweans kept their nerve to finish as victors. >

The defeat on Wednesday would have hurt Bangladesh a lot. The inconsistency would have infuriated the supporters. Their team had recently won a series against New Zealand and then won a historic gold medal at the Asian Games. But now, they lose to a Zimbabwe side who were clear under dogs before the game.

Bangladesh welcomed three important players before the start of the series. Tamim Iqbal and Mashrafe Mortza returned after injury layoffs and former captain, Mohammed Ashraful returned to the side, after being dropped for the New Zealand series. Bangladesh won that series 4-0, steam rolling past the Kiwis.

However, to their credit, the bowlers did their job well. After a good opening partnership from Brendon Taylor and Chamu Chibhabha, the Bangladeshis came into the match strongly, picking up four quick wickets. This curbed the scoring rate which was 5.3 after 10 overs, to something close to 4.0. Abdur Razzaq was the pick of the bowlers, dismissing three of the top four batsmen.

It was the batting that let the Bangladeshis down. The captain, Shakib Al Hasan was the only one who played responsibly. He was eventually without partners and when he fell as the ninth wicket with Bangladesh needing just 15 runs, it was clear that Zimbabwe were going to win the game.

Christopher Mpofu was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe and was rightly chosen as the man of the match for his impressive figures. He will be the key in this game as well.

Bangladesh would want to see the last game only as a blip and would want to get back to winning ways. They need to be more consistent if they want to move up the ladder in the ICC rankings and become a top side.