Can Nelson inspire Tigers?

As Bangladesh get set to play their second ODI against the Black Caps in Nelson tomorrow there will be two aspects that their fans will hope they can draw some encouragement from. 

For starters, the last time Bangladesh played here, they chased down Scotland's 318 in 48.1 overs and created a record. Till date, that victory stands as the second highest successful chase completed by any team in a World Cup game.

The victory was especially sweet since that win had essentially brought back all of Bangladesh's lost confidence. They had a horrible 2014, a year which saw them go down to Afghanistan and Hong Kong. Winning that game against Scotland, against all the odds, gave them the belief that they needed and it eventually helped them beat England and go through to the quarterfinal.

Can Nelson once again prove to be a game-changer and shift the momentum towards Bangladesh's direction in this series? Ask the Bangladeshi players and they will tell you that they do not want to live in the past. However, many of them reckon that the Tigers will be a lot more comfortable at Nelson than at Christchurch where their bowlers, fielders and batsmen had failed to read the pitch.

“We did play a game against Scotland in the World Cup. But the wicket back then was a bit different. However, yes, we do have an idea about what we can expect here. A majority of the players have played here before, so they will be confident,” said Tamim Iqbal, who had scored a brilliant 95 in that game against Scotland to pave the way for the middle-order batsmen to finish the game.

“From the last game, we know that if we can keep New Zealand to around 280 or 300, we have a good chance of winning. We will try our best,” the opener added. 

The second aspect that might encourage the Tigers is the fact that New Zealand lost the last time they played here in January 2016 as opposed to their flawless record in Christchurch.

The Lankans, backed by some brilliant performances from Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne had comfortably chased down New Zealand's 276 in just 46.2 overs.

While these factors can doubtless help the Tigers focus on the brighter side, they unfortunately have a number of worries to contend with and Mushfiqur Rahim's injury tops that list.

The wicketkeeper-batsman who had suffered from a hamstring injury while taking a run in the last game remains unsure for the second ODI tomorrow. The team management is waiting on Mushfiqur. If he is deemed unfit, he is likely to be replaced by Nurul Hasan, who is in New Zealand but is not in the 15-member squad. If Mushfiqur fails to make the cut, Nurul is likely to take his place.

While speaking to reporters yesterday, Tamim indicated that the management would not take any risk with regards to Mushfiqur.

“Honestly speaking, I don't know about his injury status. I hope he can play. But if he doesn't it will be so that his injury doesn't get worse. If he does play one or two games and the injury worsens, we could lose him for a longer time. He will play the next game only if he is doing perfectly well,” said Tamim.

The other aspect that they should be worried about is their combination. With four bowlers in the team including Shakib Al Hasan, the role of the fifth bowler was completed by Soumya Sarkar and Mosaddek Hossain in the last game.

However with Soumya out of form with the bat and unthreatening with the ball, the question remains as to whether the left-armer deserves to be in the team. There are other problems as well. Taskin Ahmed seemed completely out of sorts in the last game and Mustafizur Rahman is yet to reach his full intensity.

Under these circumstances, it will not be illogical if Bangladesh decide to include an extra bowler in the team in place of Soumya. 

The Tigers did not practise yesterday, choosing to stay away from cricket. It is something that they perhaps needed in order to get their minds off the devastating defeat in the first game. It is a strategy that they had followed during the home series as well and it paid dividends. For the sake of Bangladesh's fans, one hopes that the same series of events takes place in New Zealand as well.