Bangladesh and England face each other on Wednesday at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong in the third and final ODI of their series, which currently stands at 1-1.
The Bangladesh selectors who can’t seem to make their minds up, as regards the inclusion or exclusion from the squad of the left-arm spinner Taijul Islam, have recalled the player to the squad for the series deciding fixture. With Mosharraf Hossain being dropped from the 14-man squad to make way for Taijul.
Mosharraf had been included in the team for the third ODI against Afghanistan, his first appearance for his country for eight years. He subsequently took three wickets. He was then selected for the first two games against England in preference to Taijul, who had played the first two games against the Afghans.
Neither played has filled the void left by Arafat Sunny, who has been left kicking his heels, due to issues with his bowling action. Taijul took just one wicket against Afghanistan, while Mosharraf has gone wicketless against England.
At the halfway stage of the second fixture, England had looked to be in the driving seat, and on their way to clinching a series deciding victory, when they had restricted the home side to just 238-8.
However, the loss of four early wickets, three of them to Mashrafe Mortaza, left the tourists floundering on 26-4. A position from which they never recovered. Although stand in skipper Jos Buttler with a run a ball 57 did his best to galvanise his side, too few batsmen showed the application needed in the stiffing conditions.
The momentum is most definitely with the hosts, who proudly defending their two year unbeaten home record, and England look like a side that is hoping for some individual magic to produce a win, rather than supplying the overwhelming team performances that they have been producing on a regular basis in the last 18 months.
