Can Tigers stop rampant Raza and avoid whitewash?

Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal did not hesitate to admit that Zimbabwe won the three-match ODI with one match in hand on Sunday as the better team.

"All credit to Zimbabwe, they were the better team in this series," said Tamim after suffering a five-wicket defeat in the second ODI at the Harare Sports Club.

On Sunday, Zimbabwe pulled off a brilliant run-chase for the second time in three days to take a unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. It followed hard on the heels of a 2-1 T20I series win against the same opponents and a convincing qualification for the T20 World Cup later this year.

Tamim said he and his troops must pull up their socks ahead of the third and final ODI on Wednesday if they want to avoid series whitewash against the home side in Harare.

The match will start from 1.15 pm Bangladesh Standard Time and will be aired live on T Sports.

Undoubtedly, the hosts were smarter than their opponents, especially their batting unit showed a superior character. They were not only hungry for success but their approach was outstanding, in terms of keeping their cool.

If hard-hitting was one aspect, then the most significant part was the way they milked the singles and twos by capitalising on Bangladesh's sluggish fielding performance.

At the heart of these successes was a 36-year-old, Sikandar Raza, who has been in stellar form.    

On Sunday, he creamed 117 not out and shared a match-winning partnership of 201 with Regis Chakabva, who made 102, just two days after Raza struck 135 not out and shared a 192-run partnership with the inexperienced Innocent Kaia, who hit his maiden ODI century.

In the space of four weeks, Raza has rattled up 607 runs across formats, at an average of 101.16, with four half-centuries to add to those two hundreds.

With his off-spin, he has also picked up 11 wickets at 22.18 apiece, and took 4 for 8 against the Netherlands in the final of the T20 World Cup qualifiers.

It seemed that toothless Bangladesh bowling unit had no answer against Raza in the series.

 "We haven't played our best cricket and that's why we are in this position," said Tamim after second match.

Everybody, however, will be looking forward to see whether Bangladesh can play their best cricket in the face-saving last match in the series and wait to see whether they can stop the in-form Raza to return home at least with a consolation win in their favourite format.