Bangladesh will take on hosts Ireland in the last group match of the tri-series tournament, which turned out to be a dead-rubber after both Bangladesh and West Indies confirmed the spot in final.
The match starts at 3.45 pm (BST) at the Clontarf Cricket Club ground on Wednesday.
The Tigers, however, aim to continue the winning-spree and boost their confidence further ahead of the final against West Indies on Friday.
Bangladesh won both of their matches against West Indies in emphatic fashion while their first match against Ireland was washed out without a ball being bowled due to heavy rain. Thereby they top the table so far with 10 points from three matches and a win against Ireland would further widen their gap to West Indies who have nine points from four games.
West Indies won both of their matches against Ireland in comprehensive manner to seal the spot in final but they proved them to be no match for Bangladesh.
Unlike the first match, they pushed Bangladesh to some extent in the second game but Bangladesh eventually showed the difference in skill between the two sides.
“The way we’re playing, I think we bowled really well. We didn’t start well, but luckily we got the breakthrough. In the middle part Mustafizur bowled well, and Shakib and Miraz too,” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza said after their match against West Indies.
Mashrafe refused to feel complacent despite sealing the final and said that they would go hard against Ireland to continue the winning-spree.
“Getting to the final was the most important thing. The boys are a bit relaxed, but two matches left, and we’ll go hard, and see how it goes in the final,” he added.
For Bangladesh the good news is the form of Mustafizur Rahman, who produced a match-winning performance, claiming 4-43 to be adjudged man of the match. This performance came after leaking 92 and 84 runs in his last two International matches. To get an in form Mustafizur ahead of final game is a reason to delight for Bangladesh.
Mustafizur indeed proved his head coach Steve Rhodes preciously right as he was unfazed by the performance of Fizz, saying that he would hit back with bang when it will matter most.
And when the criticism gripped him, the Cutter Master, showed he has enough fuel in the tank.
Mashrafe Bin Mortaza as usually has been fantastic. Apart from his bowling, he led his side to win in 42 matches in 74 games. In doing so he sat beside Rahul Dravid in leading the side to win while he eclipsed New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori who led side win in 41 matches in 82 games.
The top order fired in the two completed games but what would make Bangladesh worried to some extent that the lower middle lower remain untested so far as they didn’t have enough scope to bat. In the dead-rubber Bangladesh may ensure some cricket for the untested lower middle order.
Amid a near perfect game, the only bother of spot was, however, the performance of ODI debutant Abu Jayed Rahi who replaced injured Mohammad Saifuddin. Rahi went wicket-less, giving away 56 runs in his nine overs and lacked bite.
Bangladesh wouldn’t like to loss the game against Ireland but it is highly likely that they would bring up some changes to the squad to give some of the players a game time. And it is obviously ideal in a dead rubber.
