Tigers take on spirited Zimbabwe to stay alive in T20 WC

Leaving behind the setback of the previous game, Bangladesh vowed to turn up with renewed confidence when they will take on Zimbabwe in their third game of the T20 World Cup at the Australia's historical ground in Gabba in Brisbane tomorrow (Sunday).

The match starts at 9am(BDT)and will be aired live on Gazi Television and T Sports Channel.

Bangladesh won their first match against Netherlands by 9 runs before suffering their biggest ever T20 defeat when South Africa inflicted a 104-run defeat on them. A defeat however in this match could dent their hope to reach the semifinals.

However while Bangladesh will go into the third match with big defeat, Zimbabwe are brimming with confidence after their landmark one-run victory against tournament favourites Pakistan.

Just a few months ago, it looked Zimbabwe are no match for Bangladesh in any format of the cricket but the things changed dynamically as the Eastern African nations emerged as one of the giant killers in this format. After years of struggle, deficiency and weak cricket culture, they invested a lot on their domestic circuit in planned way, which paid the dividends. Their cricket renaissance in fact began when they beat Bangladesh in ODI and T20 format just three months ago.

They then had to play the preliminary round of the T20 World Cup and it actually doesn't matter as they moved to the main round of this edition as the group champions. They narrowly escaped against South Africa as the match was washed out due to rain but against Pakistan what they did, definitely sent an SOS for Bangladesh.

However the Bangladesh's technical consultant Sridharan Sriram was unfazed by the Zimbabwe juggernaut and his side's downfall, saying that they are morally high despite their drubbing at the hands of South Africa.

"I think the morale is very good. We realized South Africa played really well on that day. They were very strong," Sriram said here today.

"Rilee Rossouw at No. 3 gives them that sort of power that is one of the world's best at the moment. So, we came across an innings from two really quality players in Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw, and we'll take our learnings from that."

He further said that the team is in good shape and ready to up the ante when they take on Zimbabwe tomorrow.

"Think it's very good that we won the first game in the Super 12 after 15 years is it? 2007? I think it's fantastic. I think if anybody deserved it, it was this group of boys for the effort that they have put in, and full credit to them."

"We want to take one game at a time. We're not thinking too far ahead. Our next challenge is Zimbabwe. We definitely have a plan. But I think we respect Zimbabwe, their amazing performance again Pakistan. We watched each and every ball of it, and the way they pulled it off against Pakistan is unbelievable."

The two teams so far met 19 times in this format with Bangladesh still leading the contest by 12-7. Overall Bangladesh played 141 T20 Internationals and while they won 48 matches, they had lost 90 matches. Three other matches ended in no result.

Squad:

Bangladesh: Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Afif Hossain, Mossadek Hossain, Liton Das, Yasir Ali, Nurul Hasan, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadot Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Najmul Hossain, Nasum Ahmed and Soumya Sarkar.

Zimbabwe: Craig Ervine (c), Ryan Burl, Regis Chakabva, Tendai Chatara, Bradley Evans, Luke Jongwe, Clive Madande, Wessly Madhevere, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Blessing Muzarabani, Richard Ngarava, Sikandar Raza, Milton Shumba and Sean Williams.