Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal won the toss for the third and tour-ending ODI match and as expectedly asked West Indies to bat first on slow and turning Providence Stadium in Guyana today.
The Tigers made just once change for the game which turned out be dead rubber after the visitors took an unassailable 2-0.
They in fact bolstered their spin department, brining in left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, in the place of pacer Shoriful Islam. Spinners so far delivered Bangladesh last two victories with offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed providing the impetus.
After confirming the series, captain Tamim Iqbal wanted to test the bench strength and hinted at sweeping changes to squad but that was not indeed materialized. Just before the match, coach Russell Domingo dismissed the notion, saying that Bangladesh won’t make many changes despite confirming series.
Domingo’s statement however finally proved to be right.
Tamim in fact wanted to test bench strength since the series was not the part of the ICC ODI Super League and hence there was no value for the points.
“We’ll bowl first again. The reason is simple – it’s difficult to bat first here and it gets a little bit easier later. You can’t judge any player on this surface. We are still going with a full-strength team. We are bringing in another spinner,” Tamim said after winning toss.
The Wednesday’s victory in the second game not only sealed the three-match ODI series but also extended Bangladesh’s winning streak against West Indies to 10 straight matches.
Also it was Bangladesh’s fifth consecutive bilateral ODI series win – having beaten Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and South Africa before this
series win. The series victory was Bangladesh’s fourth straight against the Caribbean side. Now it is their chance to whitewash West Indies for the third time.
West Indies, in a bid to avoid clean sweep, made one change with Keacy Carty replacing Kyle Mayers.
“Today’s a new day, a new opportunity for us. As a young team, we are up for the challenge. We’ll try to dig deeper. As a team, we got to accept the
challenges and try to change the odds. One change – Kyle Mayers is out, Keacy Carty is in,” West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran said.
Line Ups:
Bangladesh : Tamim Iqbal(c), Liton Das, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Mahmudullah Riyad, Afif Hossain, Nurul Hasan(w), Mehidy Hasan, Mosaddek
Hossain, Nasum Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman
West Indies: Shai Hope(w), Brandon King, Shamarh Brooks, Keacy Carty, Nicholas Pooran(c), Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph
