Bangladesh national women’s team pace bowling all-rounder Lata Mondal said that they are keen to celebrate their maiden ODI series win against India when they take on the touring side in the second one-day international at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium today.
The game will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the Bangladesh Cricket Board will stream the tie live on YouTube.
Bangladesh are leading the three-match ODI series 1-0 against the defending Asian champions after they registered a 40-run win in the D/L method in the series opener on July 16.
The 30-year-old right-arm medium pacer who failed to manage a spot in the playing XI in the first game, also promised to play their best to achieve monumental success over the Asian giants.
‘Who doesn’t want to win the series, in fact? We will play better cricket by following our process. And if we play well, the result will take care of us. We will try to play our best cricket since it is our home ground,’ said Lata on Tuesday in Mirpur.
Before coming into the series, both sides met each other in 54 ODIs, with the defending Asia Cup champions India winning on 35 occasions against Bangladesh’s 14 wins, while the other five games ended without results.
Moreover, Bangladesh failed to secure a single victory over the tourists in their last five meets in this format. Among these five encounters, Bangladesh were swept 3-0 by India at their home back in 2012–13, while the other two matches were in the World Cups.
Bangladesh also lost the three-match T20 international series 1-2 to their Indian counterparts last week.
However, with Nigar Sultana hitting a 39-run captain’s knock and then Marufa Akter finishing with her career best 4-29 in the ODI, the former Asian champions eventually overcame their never-ending woes against the mighty side.
Even so, Lata acknowledged that the win in the series opener couldn’t excite them on a large scale, so they are eying to move match-by-match in the vying.
‘Practically neither we are under pressure nor excited. In fact, we are aiming to go forward match-by-match. Whether we win or lose, we always think of playing better cricket.’
Lata also believed the series win over their Indian counterparts would surely be a turning point for them, as they had been eagerly waiting for the success for a long time.
‘Definitely it will be [turning point]. We are toiling hard and have been waiting for an extended-period of time only for a good result.’
She additionally hoped that Marufa would repeat the same performance in the tie that she displayed in the first encounter.
‘If we take a look at Marufa, he has been doing well incessantly. She does her job quite adeptly, as per the team’s demands. So definitely, we would have the same expectations for her.’
