Bangladesh national team head coach Russell Domingo accepted that the Tigers need to upgrade their batting, bowling and fielding if they want to clinch the series against India with the second ODI at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday.
The game will begin at 12 p.m. Bangladesh Standard Time and GTV, T Sports will go live the match.
The hosts, who are 1-0 up in the three match one-day series, earned a dramatic one-wicket win in the first match on Sunday with Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman forming a monumental 51-run stand in the tenth wicket stand.
They must be desperate to hand the visitors one more loss in order to register another series win over the mighty side in ODIs after 2015, when they also won the series 2-1 at their home ground.
Domingo, on the other hand, believes that in order for his charges to be successful, they must learn from the first game and play better cricket than they did in the tie.
‘It was a fantastic win for us. But come today, it’s done. We have to take the positives and learnings from the last game. We have to try to improve in every department because we know it will be a tough game,’ said Domingo on Tuesday in the pre-match press conference.
‘Our team is confident in this format, but it won’t be easy. India are a quality side. They will come back strong. But I’d rather go into tomorrow’s game 1-0 up than 0-1 down. We have to play a lot better than we did in the first game. If we hold our nerves, we can cross the line, he added.
The 48-year-old South African coach also hinted at the unavailability of Bangladesh pacer Taskin Ahmed in the second tie as well who was sidelined in the series opener on the back of his recurrent back pain.
‘Taskin had an injection about three or four days ago. He did a bit of gym yesterday and had a bit of a bowl today for five six overs. I’m not sure we want to risk playing him yet. So, I don’t think we want to risk playing him yet but he is on his way to recovery.’
Meanwhile, India's top-order batsman, Shikhar Dhawan, vowed to bounce back strongly, making a fresh start following their defeat in the first match.
‘Of course, I cannot do an old start. It’s going to be a new start and we are looking forward to it and we are very very positive and in a good space and looking forward to play good cricket tomorrow,’ he said.
‘We are very very confident about tomorrow’s game. This is not the first time we have lost the first game of a series. It’s quite normal so we know how to bounce back from these situations,’ he added.
