Bangladesh may have lost the second one-day international against the Windies by four wickets, but going into the series-decider, off-spinner Mehidy Hasan said they would draw inspiration from their series victory in the Caribbean earlier this year.
The hosts had won the opener of the three-match series by five wickets before Windies drew level on Tuesday, 11 December. The third and final ODI will be played in Sylhet on Friday, with the home side looking to pull off a feat similar to the one they managed in the Caribbean in July.
Bangladesh were down 0-1 on that occasion, but made an impressive comeback to take the series 2-1.
“The last game is a do-or-die game for us,” Hasan said on Wednesday. “Whenever we are placed in such do-or-die situations we come back strongly. In the West Indies, we won the series in the last match and we are taking inspiration from it.
“So it’s a good opportunity for us in the last game against the visitors and we hope to come back strongly in that game. We’re not out of the series yet.”
In the second ODI, Bangladesh posted 255/7, and seemed on track to pocket the series after reducing the visitors to 157/5 in their chase. However, Shai Hope played an exceptional knock of 146* to guide his team past the finish line with two balls to spare.
“We started off very well (in the second ODI) but we failed to finish off in the right manner,” said Hasan. “We were probably 20 runs short and it would have been better if we had those 20 runs on the board.
“Shai Hope is playing excellent cricket, and in the last game it was a chance-less effort, so we need to work on how to stop him. They won because they played well while we lacked in some areas. We just need to improve on that.”
